Archive of Our Own

Obi-Wan thoroughly enjoyed having Cody and Rex around as his partners. They were even better men than he thought they were. He could no longer imagine life without them. 

They had helped him through his recovery, patient and loving. They helped him when he needed therapy with some anxiety. They talked him through doubts, and understood when he said he'd retire if Quinlan did. Quinlan had been his partner in bobsledding for so long, he didn't want to do two man or four man without him. Assuming they could handle the two man after that terrifying crash.

After everything, Obi-Wan was worried about Quinlan. The first few months after the crash, Quinlan had been nothing like himself, quiet and keeping to himself. He wasn't really doing much, some days. 

But then, he'd had worse injuries than Obi-Wan, and there was far more of a question of if he'd ever be able to return to bobsledding. For a month or two there was a question of if he'd ever be able to walk again.

Quinlan started getting better after Fox convinced him to not only take up music again, but to start posting YouTube videos. He started smiling more, actually looking forward to days more. 

And he'd always been talented with music. People adored his videos. Whether the singing, the sight reading, random instruments playing songs, or him playing full pieces by himself with several different recordings.

But it was nearing a year since the accident, and Obi-Wan was still worried. Quinlan was still quiet, still different. Still struggling. Obi-Wan didn't want to see him struggling anymore. And Quinlan wasn't really talking to him. 

So Obi-Wan chased Cody, Rex, and Fox out of their shared house (having moved there just months before) in order to spend time with Quinlan for the first time in a long time. The first time of it just being them.

Quinlan came out of his room, yawning. He stopped moving when he saw that it was just Obi-Wan. "Uh... hi Obi-Wan?"

"Hey, Quin. Thought it'd be nice to do a day just us. Haven't done that in a while."

Quinlan made a face and looked away. "I'm not leaving the house."

He was mostly able to navigate the house without a wheelchair so long as he had a cane or other support, but he was still needing a wheelchair outside the house. 

"I know. Now do you want blueberry waffles, or blueberry pancakes?" Obi-Wan asked. "I know you prefer sausages to bacon, got those going already. No eggs. You and your weird egg intolerance." Quinlan could only handle eggs if they were thoroughly cooked.

Quinlan offered a small smile. "Um... Waffles?"

Obi-Wan nodded and started making the waffles. "What do you want to do today? Play video games, watch movies, catch up?" 

Quinlan shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. What do you want to do Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan stopped and pointed the whisk at him. "That, that right there is why we're doing this."

Quinlan gave him a puzzled look. 

"You have never called me Obi-Wan outside introductions and interviews. And I've already been Obi-Wan'd twice this morning, and no sign of the usual nickname."

Quinlan frowned. "I didn't realize it was that important to you." He was sitting at the table. He had long since gotten over the awkward feeling of sitting and waiting for others to make food. There were ways he could help but it was often better to just wait rather than help unless there were multiple moving parts. He still wished he could do more to help.

"Didn't realize- Quin! We've been best friends since we were little. We call each other brother! You calling me Obi-Wan means that either something is wrong, or you don't think of me the same way and I am not losing my brother." Obi-Wan was passionate, almost angry but reined himself back from actual anger. He took in a few deep breaths. 

Quinlan looked at the table. "I'm not worth keeping," he mumbled, not wanting Obi-Wan to hear that. 

But at the same time he did want Obi-Wan to hear it. Fox was good, but it was hard letting him in on how much he was hurting. It was hard letting Obi-Wan in on how much he was hurting, too. But he had years of trust built up with Obi-Wan, and he knew how to read Obi-Wan's tells in a way he didn't Fox. He knew that Obi-Wan tended to hide his hands when he was anxious, but if he was worried that would override his anxiety. He knew that Obi-Wan didn't like lying and that when he did he was actually really good at it, but he went a bit more deadpan than normal. 

He didn't know Fox's tells, couldn't trust entirely that Fox was telling the truth. But he knew Obi-Wan, so if Obi-Wan was telling him he was being ridiculous... he'd have to believe him. 

Obi-Wan was at his side and hugging him. "I never want to hear you say that again, Quin. You're my brother. If you need me, I'm going to stick around."

Quinlan hugged him in return and started crying. "Why? I might never be able to bobsled again, and even if I do, I'm still... I'm still going to be disabled. I'm never going to be the same, Obi."

Obi-Wan held him tightly. "I know, that's okay. I love you Quin, you're my brother. I've been so worried and you been shutting me out and..." He shook his head. "Quin, do you remember what I was like in high school?"

Quinlan blinked, and nodded. He remembered that Obi-Wan had struggled with ADHD and anxiety and that mixture combined with high expectations had led to depression, with Obi-Wan's only escape being bobsledding. 

"...you don't remember the part that sticks out to me the most, do you?" Obi-Wan sighed. "I tried to kill myself, and when my father tried to get me out of the hospital, tried to make me do all my class work when I was recovering not just from the attempt but walking pneumonia because he had ignored my complaints... He got dressed down by everyone. He stopped being a support then. So do you know who made it possible for me to get through it?"

Quinlan shook his head.

"You. When they initially denied your visits because they don't like allowing visitors under 18 to minors, you insisted on passing on letters. And I wasn't doing well, my father getting dressed down and giving up had broken me. So they gave me those letters."

"And then they eventually let me in to see you as long as we were always supervised..."

"I don't know that I would have made it out of the hospital if it weren't for you. If I did, I would have faked getting better so that I could actually just go kill myself for real. I was that bad off. Quin, you gave me a reason to live. I would not be here without you. And if you think I'm going to sit by when you're having similar thoughts, you're wrong. I just wish I knew that's how badly you were affected."

Quinlan froze. He had not realized how bad Obi-Wan's mental state was. He remembered just wanting to hang out with his friend, who he pretty much considered his brother. And yeah, he'd reassured Obi-Wan a lot at that point and been the best friend he could be. But he'd missed that Obi-Wan was perfectly willing to try again. 

And he had not known he was the main reason Obi-Wan had gotten better. 

"Oh."

Obi-Wan chuckled. "Yeah, oh. Now. I'm going to finish making breakfast. We are going to eat and talk and then we're going to do something fun like old times. We don't have to make everything heavy conversation but I do want to catch up and know where you're at in your life, okay?"

Quinlan nodded. "Okay. I'm not sure how ready I am to talk... but I really should... I miss  hanging out with you."

Obi-Wan nodded. "I was giving you space because I thought you wanted it but I had enough. I can balance my time between you and my boyfriends, alright?"

"Alright." Quinlan let out a breath. "Breakfast first."

"Breakfast first." Obi-Wan resumed making waffles.

Quinlan watched for a bit, then hesitantly started telling Obi-Wan about comments he'd been getting. About how they were constantly asking him how he'd never gone into music with the music degree and all that.

Obi-Wan hummed. "Have you considered doing a livestream for those Q&A? Then you don't need to answer questions all the time and you can direct those who ask again to the livestream."

Quinlan blinked. "I hadn't considered it no... Can we do that today?"

Obi-Wan paused. "Really? Your channel is yours and Fox's."

"Fox is just helping me edit, you know I've always been hopeless at that, and it was his idea. A livestream is more straightforward, right? We make sure we look good, and that the microphone works, and that's all we need."

"We?"

"Well... a lot of the questions are about both of us. They ask more about me than you, because you've been seen in public and I've been avoiding it but... If you're there you can choose to answer. And I... I'm not sure I can answer some of them without your support."

Obi-Wan started the first waffle. "Alright, I'll do it with you. It'll be fun." He grinned at Quinlan. 

Quinlan smiled back, pleased. "Now... they're going to want me to do some songs live, we could use the songs as a way to take a break. You're good so you're at least going to sing with me."

Obi-Wan sighed. "I'll get my guitar."

"You still have that?"

"You got it for my birthday years ago, it's special. I am never giving it up." 

"We have to sing that song." Quinlan grinned. "How many times did we sing Never Gonna Give you Up seriously?"

Obi-Wan laughed. "Okay, good one. What other songs can we do...?"

They spent the rest of breakfast discussing what songs they knew and would have to do minimal work towards preparing to sing and play.

And then they started the livestream. 

Quinlan and Obi-Wan were trying to figure out if it was working when the first person popped in the chat and told them, yes, it was.

Quinlan relaxed and smiled. "Alright, great, looks like it's working. So... let's give people time to pop in by singing a song. Obes, you know the one I'm thinking of."

Obi-Wan snorted and grabbed his guitar off the stand he'd placed nearby. "Don't be surprised if people enter and then promptly leave." He double checked that his guitar was tuned and then started playing.

Quinlan sang, and Obi-Wan took the harmony. 

At the end, Quinlan checked the chat. "Whoa, that's a lot more people than I was expecting." 

Obi-Wan laughed. "Come on Quin, you know you're popular."

"Yeah, but this popular on such short notice?" Quinlan shook his head. "Anyways. Hi, everyone. I'm Quinlan Vos, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi who graciously agreed to come answer questions with me since a good amount of the questions I've been getting have been about him."

He paused and watched the chat go wild. 

"Alright, let's start with the basics. I've known Obi-Wan since daycare when we were toddlers. We've been best friends most of our life, and I would go as far as call him my brother."

Obi-Wan nodded. "I would too."

"We got into bobsledding as preteens, though our careers took different paths. When I got into my first competitive team, I was in a four man with Sheev Palpatine coaching. Yes, that Palpatine. Horrible coach. Obi was on a different four man team."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Palpatine convinced Quin to give up music after he got his degree to better focus on bobsledding and pushed him way too hard."

"Made me compete with a broken leg. That was when I finally reported him, and he was banned from coaching bobsledding. Did not stop him from coaching any other sports though." 

"Once Quin recovered from the injury we started working together in the two man, and then eventually we were paired with Cody Fett and Rex Mereel for the four man, and almost a year ago, we won gold in the four man and through some miracle won the silver."

Quinlan was following chat. "How was it a miracle? We crashed thanks to a sabotage. Do not look it up if you're squeamish about injuries, it was not pretty."

Then he fidgeted for a moment before sighing. "My back was broken, and I can't even list all the things wrong it was so many. I am still in physical therapy and have only recently started going without a wheelchair around the house, and I still need support. I don't know if I'll ever get back to bobsledding. I hope so. I love the sport."

Obi-Wan leaned on him to reassure him. "Any questions so far?"

They both watched with amusement as those who did not know Quinlan was a gold medalist freak out, as others had exclamations about other things, as...

A question caught Quinlan's eyes. "Ah, if Palpatine convinced me to drop music after getting my degree, when did I start playing/singing again." He smiled sheepishly. "I did sing for fun on occasion, though not often. The first time I picked up an instrument was the day I recorded the first video I posted with the encouragement of a friend."

More explosions of shock and awe. 

Quinlan relaxed a bit. This was going to be a fun stream. They could have so much fun playing music too. 

After a while, he and Obi-Wan declared they would play for about an hour before answering anymore questions. 

Obi-Wan played keyboard for one of the songs while Quinlan played viola. 

Obi-Wan borrowed Quinlan's oboe (with new reeds), which had been his preferred instrument in high school, to accompany him on a clarinet song. 

They were having fun. They were back to playing guitars and singing though. Covering some old boy band songs. Ones they had grown up listening to. 

To an outsider who had not seen them talking to the stream, it looked like they were just recording a video. 

Obi-Wan was having a lot of fun. And so was Quinlan. Both fell back into their old dynamic as if no time had passed. Playing around and having fun. Quinlan was acting more like his old self than he had since the crash. He couldn't quite match his old self because of his injuries, but he came close.

And as they reached the end of a song, things went drastically wrong. 

They were attacked by four people. Quinlan couldn't fight back, not really, and Obi-Wan, while mostly recovered, still had lingering aches. Those two against four? They didn't have a chance. 

Quinlan cried out, having not only bumped his head but twisted his back in a way that sent shooting pain up his spine. As he straightened he caught sight of a fifth person. 

"Sheev!" 

One of the thugs grabbed his arms and tied them together. Quinlan squirmed but he knew there as no way he could get out. 

"Let us go! What do you want?" Obi-Wan spat at Palpatine.

Palpatine stepped up to him and smacked duct tape over his mouth, then over Quinlan's mouth. 

"You two have ruined my reputation, ruined my life. I would've been just fine after that race if you two hadn't interfered and ruined everything. It's too bad that crash didn't kill you. Now I am going to get my revenge in any way I can." 

He looked at the camera and scoffed. "Recording music again, Quinlan my boy? I told you that you have no talent." He grabbed the camera. "Can't leave behind any evidence." He ripped it from the computer and walked away, apparently not realizing that it was a livestream. 

Obi-Wan glared at him for bringing up Quinlan's insecurities again. Quinlan was just getting comfortable with his music again. Obi-Wan knew he was super insecure about it and it had only gotten worse during college, to the point he thought maybe his degree was earned in error. He couldn't be that good at music, according to his thougths.

Palpatine just smirked at him. "I am so glad you two finally were left alone in the house. It makes my plans easier." 

They were carried out the door and then tossed into a van. They were not able to do anything about being kidnapped. 

Quinlan got the duct tape off of his mouth without needing his hands. "Where are you taking us? What are you going to do to us."

"That is for me to know, my boy, and you to find out. I am going to have my revenge for what you two have done."

And that was all they could get out of him.

Quinlan got more duct tape on his mouth. He could get it off again, but decided not to bother. He didn't want to try talking to Skeevy Sheev. He also needed to work on breathing through his pain. His back was really aching.

. 

Palpatine grinned down at them when they were dumped on a floor. Quinlan looked around, confused, then his eyes widened as he hoped he was wrong about why they were there.

"A training facility?" Obi-Wan asked, puzzled. 

Palpatine cackled. "Yes, a training facility. You two are going to train until you collapse every day until you die."

Quinlan stared at him. "That's your revenge? Seriously?"

"Oh, I have other things in store, I do need to get your boyfriends involved after all. I have plans for them."

Obi-Wan glared. "Don't you dare touch them."

"You're not in a position to argue, Obi-Wan." Palpatine undid the bindings. "Now... get to work. Weights." 

Obi-Wan stared at him blankly.

Quinlan was shaking. "No, no, no, I can't." 

"You have no choice, my boy. Weights." 

Quinlan frantically looked around for an exit but there didn't seem to be anyway out. The windows were covered, the doors all had the thugs guarding them. 

"I-I can't." 

"You will." 

Quinlan shakily stood, wobbling without anything to help him keep his balance.

Obi-Wan glared at Palpatine again and rushed to Quinlan's side. Quinlan leaned on him gratefully and they made their way to the weights.

"What exactly does he want?" Obi-Wan asked softly.

Quinlan described the sets he had been required to do when Palpatine had been his coach. 

He glanced back to find Palpatine watching them with a stern look. He shuddered. He never forgot the feeling of being under his thumb, even if he had shaken off the worst of his words.

"Well... Can you do it?" Obi-Wan asked.

"No." Quinlan sighed. "Not most of the ones he's expecting... Not even with the lightest weights."

Obi-Wan winced. "He's not going to like that, is he?"

"Physical limitations are all in our head. Suffering makes us stronger," Quinlan quoted dully. 

Obi-Wan was more worried hearing Quinlan start to revert to how he acted when training with Palpatine. It wasn't like the depression he hit after the accident. It was more robotic. 

"Are you going to get started or not?"

"What are you going to do if we do not get started?" Obi-Wan dared to ask.

Palpatine stepped closer. "Then I will force you and you will not get food for lunch."

Obi-Wan stared at him. "You're insane."

Palpatine smacked him. 

Obi-Wan stumbled, surprised by the force behind it.

"Get started. Now."

Obi-Wan glared at him but decided not to test him at that time. He helped Quinlan get set up then started himself. He could do the weights, but he was nowhere near where he was, not after his injuries. He was cautious and did lighter weights. 

Palpatine frowned at the light weights, but let them get away with it. For now. 

The day dragged on. Quinlan eventually collapsed when Palpatine tried to get him to run laps. Quinlan was not steady on his feet, and his back was aching, so he did not make it far, collapsing to the ground. He lay there breathing hard and whimpering. 

Palpatine poked him with a foot. "Get up, my boy. It's not time to be done. You know the rules."

"Yes, sir..." Quinlan groaned. "Passed out or collapsing three times within fifteen minutes." He pulled himself up and started attempting to jog again. His legs did not want to cooperate. He collapsed again and whimpered at the pain shooting up and down his legs, and his back.

"That crash really did a number on you, didn't it? Maybe you won't get back to bobsledding after all," Palpatine taunted. "Of course, I'm not going to let you live to find out. You are going to work yourself to death. You won't know true suffering without it." 

Quinlan pushed himself up and managed five steps before his legs gave out and he face planted.

Palpatine shook his head and lifted Quinlan. He was a deceptively strong man. He didn't look like he would be able to lift anything more than five pounds, but he was actually quite strong despite that appearance. 

Quinlan just whimpered, trying to ignore the pain, but he couldn't. It was all consuming. Palpatine dropped him in a room with two beds and an attached bathroom. It looked a bit like a hotel room.

Obi-Wan made it through the laps, and had to do other exercises until he collapsed. It took him until dinner time to hit the required amount of collapses in fifteen minutes. 

Aching he was relieved to be dropped onto a bed. As soon as Palpatine was out of the room, he scrambled over to Quinlan and wrapped his arms around him.

"Quin? Quin? Are you okay?"

Quinlan was crying. "It won't stop hurting. It hurts so bad... I can't do this anymore, I can't. And if he keeps pushing me like this... I'm never going to bobsled again and and..." He sniffled.

Obi-Wan started rocking him. "It will be okay. I'm here with you. We will figure it out. We will get out of this. He's not going to get away with this."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. It might take a few days but they're going to find us." Obi-Wan leaned in and whispered, not sure if there were cameras or anything in the room. "We were live-streaming. He didn't hide his identity." 

Quinlan relaxed, smiling slightly. "He made a mistake. He actually made a mistake."

"He did." Obi-Wan smiled. "We just need to survive. Can you do that?"

"I think so... I just hope it doesn't set me back too much."

"Quin, I don't care if you bobsled or not. I just want you to live and be happy."

"But what about?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "If you retire, I'm retiring. I don't want to bobsled without you and it was hard enough learning to work with Rex and Cody for the four man. I don't want to have to start the process for a fourth or a new partner for the two man. You, or nothing." 

Quinlan stared at him, and nodded. "Then I better give my recovery my all then, if both our careers rely on it."

"Just don't blame yourself if you can't handle it." 

"I won't." Quinlan promised. "Or... I'll try not to. I... if my body isn't capable of it, that's not a moral failing. That's still an attitude I'm working on unlearning from Skeevy Sheev, and I don't think this is going to help any."

"You need mental therapy, Quin. Will you get a proper therapist this time?"

Quinlan sighed. "I will."

They cuddled, had dinner, and cuddled some more, comforting each other. It was late at night that Quinlan had a thought.

"...did he seriously call Fox my boyfriend?"

"Is Fox not your boyfriend?" Obi-Wan asked, surprised.

"What? No! I mean I like him but why would he ever want me? I don't really understand why he's been helping me so much. Yeah, I get he feels he owes me for helping save him and his coach causing our accident but he's more than repaid that by now. He doesn't need to keep doing that." 

Obi-Wan stared at him, taking in that Quinlan was genuinely confused, genuinely liked him, and genuinely thought he had no chance. If only Quinlan had seen how Fox looked at him. How worried Fox got on bad days. How carefully Fox prepared his tray for the days Quinlan refused to leave his room. 

"Oh, Quin. I had no idea your insecurities had gotten so bad." Obi-Wan cuddled him closer. "He likes you too, he's just worried about you and wants you to be better before he makes a move. I heard him telling Rex and Cody when they were teasing him."

Quinlan shook his head in denial. "It's okay. I don't need a boyfriend."

Obi-Wan sighed and kissed his forehead. "You don't need a lot of things, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't make life worth living. Don't do that to yourself, Quin. You deserve to be happy, and that includes a happy relationship that could lead to marriage one day, okay?"

"Okay." 

Obi-Wan could tell that Quinlan didn't believe him. But this wasn't the place to push the issue. "Let's get some sleep."

Quinlan yawned. "Probably a good idea... we're going to be put through hell."

.

They were put through hell for two days. Quinlan had yet to last past lunch time. Obi-Wan had a day where he didn't last much longer than Quinlan, but the longer rest gave him longest day the day after. 

It had been a week when something changed. Quinlan and Obi-Wan were miserable. Palpatine was hinting that he was going to be giving them just three hours of rest soon if they collapsed before dinner time. He did want them to work themselves to death, after all.

But first he had to get Fox, Rex, and Cody. It took longer than he anticipated as they had been constantly surrounded by other people.

Palpatine was not interested in social media or the news, just his revenge, so he had no clue of the media storm surrounding what happened. 

But he finally got the three when they had a night alone. They had not upgraded their home security yet, just planned to. He and his thugs snuck in and drugged them without waking them.

They woke up in a room with three beds the next morning, groggy from the drugs, though it did not take them long to panic. 

Fox was unsurprised when Palpatine paid him a visit.

Palpatine gave them a sinister smile. "Finally, my revenge will be complete. I will take everything from those who interfered with me."

Fox stiffened and glared. "Where is Quin?"

"Oh Fox my boy, you really think I'm just going to tell you? No, you three serve a special purpose and you will see just what that is after lunch."

Palpatine left them at that time, leaving the trio freaking out and worrying over what was about to happen

.

After lunch, Quinlan hit three hours since his collapse and was dragged back to the training room. He was shaking with pain, but pushing himself again. It was a remembered reflex, though back pain was certainly the hardest pain to ignore.

Palpatine set them exercises and disappeared. 

When he came back, he had Fox, Cody, and Rex, with a rope between the three of them, and all three blindfolded.

Quinlan froze, nearly dropping the weight on his thigh. He carefully set it down to give Palpatine his full attention.

Obi-Wan was glaring again. He didn't have the conditioning into obedience Quinlan did. He didn't have such big pain wearing him down. He was in a far better position to rebel.

Palpatine clapped his hands. "Now, let's play a game. Every time you slack off, one lash for each." He held up a whip. "Every time you slow down, less rations. Every time you collapse... one broken bone on your boyfriend or boyfriends." 

Quinlan's eyes widened with fear. He couldn't let them get hurt. He couldn't. But he also had limitations that he couldn't get past. That he was terrified of passing since it just meant setting back his recovery.

At first, neither he nor Obi-Wan pushed themselves harder. But hearing their cries of pain, hearing the bone break that day... It was rough.

So the next day, they pushed themselves harder. Quinlan still collapsed before lunch, but he made it longer than before. He felt awful when he heard Fox's cry of pain when three of his fingers were broken. But he couldn't get his body to cooperate.

Three hours later, he was back to pushing himself and pushing himself, desperate to keep Fox from more pain.

Obi-Wan started pushing harder as well, not liking how Cody and Rex were being treated when he did anything that Palpatine did not want to see.

.

Days passed like this; they did not know it, but the police had no clue where to look for Sheev. He had done a lot of work towards hiding where he was living, hiding anything that was his from anyone who was interesting.

Quinlan broke when Fox's arm was broken. He started sobbing. He didn't know what to do anymore. He didn't think they'd get out before they died, not the way Sheev was pushing them. Not with how he didn't have any breaks from pain anymore and it was only getting worse. 

So he decided to do something incredibly risky. If he died for it... well. He died for it. He had no idea what was going on in the outside world. 

He knew there was no chance that their families would pick up. He knew that there was no chance of being noticed. So instead he called the police non-emergency line. He wasn't believed. He tried 911 but they also did not believe him. Near in tears, Quinlan stared at the phone and pulled up YouTube, desperate for a distraction.

Obi-Wan was watching sympathetically, upset it wasn't working. Worried about Rex and Cody, who he could tell were getting more and more worn down with each day. They ended each day with three new broken bones every time. More if Obi-Wan collapsed earlier in the day and had to try again. It wasn't as bad as Fox was having it, but it was still horrible. 

Quinlan stopped and stared. "Clips from our livestream are trending, especially the part where we're kidnapped... Obes. I think that's it. We livestream it. Start it in the morning show the window so they can see what's outside, and then keep streaming with the phone in a pocket or something until it's noticed. Maybe we could even get Skeev to say something incriminating, give a clue as to where we are." 

Obi-Wan considered it. He wasn't nearly as worn down as Quinlan, but he could tell Quinlan wasn't going to last much longer, and Fox wasn't far behind. He couldn't watch them slowly die. He'd rather die himself.

"Alright. Let's do this. Take some time to make sure you know what you're doing."

Quinlan gave him a look. "Of course. I  am not going to screw this up."

.

The next morning, Quinlan logged into his account and waited a few minutes for people to show up. He knew he looked awful. Obi-Wan did the videoing.

"Hi everyone. Sorry to do this, but I got a hold of a phone last night but the police and 911 operators did not believe me. I don't know where were are, what we've seen of this place is this room..."  

Obi-Wan showed them the room and the open bathroom. 

"And a space that's a lot like a training facility. There's no way out. I only got this by a miracle from the thugs who drag us back here every night."

"Five more minutes," Obi-Wan said. 

"Right. Skeevy Sheev wants his revenge and he's doing a pretty good job of getting it. Looking like he might succeed even, if we're not rescued any time soon." Quinlan sighed and offered the camera a smile. "So... if we don't make it out. It was nice doing the livestream before we were interrupted, and I love the support everyone has given me."

The door opened. Obi-Wan tucked the phone into a pocket, the camera just peeking out of the jeans. He did not end the livestream, on purpose. He hoped streaming it might help the police track where they were.

The usual routine occurred. Dragged to the training facility and ordered to train. 

They both started to do so. 

Quinlan collapsed the first time two hours in. He flinched at Fox's yelp of pain at another broken bone and pushed himself harder, somehow not collapsing again.

Then he collapsed right before lunch. He started sobbing in pain as Palpatine coldly broke another bone. 

Obi-Wan shifted and glanced around before checking what the camera was catching. He wanted the livestream to get this.

"Get up, Quinlan."

Quinlan whimpered, and gave it a good effort. His back gave out before he could get his legs under him. He gave another effort, but with the same result.

"I can't do this anymore. Please, please don't hurt Fox anymore."

"Oh, I will keep hurting him, that is the only thing that has you moving at all. You're so lazy I cannot believe you won a gold medal and almost got another one. You didn't deserve it."

Quinlan just sobbed as he kept trying and trying. "Please, I can't, I really can't do it."

"I don't believe you." Palpatine yanked him up by his arm.

Quinlan stood shaking for a few moments, then took a step and immediately collapsed again, hitting the ground hard, unable to catch himself. 

Palpatine scoffed. "Pathetic. So pathetic and and useless. I cannot believe you were able to earn a gold medal. I cannot believe that you are still trying to be a bobsledder. You are worthless." He kicked Quinlan in the side. "This is why you're going to die."

Obi-Wan took a step towards Palpatine before he could stop himself. 

Palpatine turned to him. "What do you think you're doing, Obi-Wan? You know what is at stake. Wait a minute... what is in your pocket?"

Obi-Wan froze. Busted.

Palpatine stepped over Quinlan to walk to Obi-Wan. He held out his hand. "Give it to me."

Obi-Wan took out the phone and put it into sleep. He hoped that it would keep live-streaming. That some documentation of what they were going through stayed. 

Palpatine snatched it. "A phone? I suppose you tried calling the police?" Palpatine laughed. "All the police here like me. They think it's a tragedy I was put in jail and won't believe a thing against me. They even accepted my money. You will not get out of this." 

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and tried to regain his composure. He should have known. That did explain a lot. He knew Quinlan and Fox had the hospital reporting injuries to the police when they were training under him. He knew that Palpatine got off easy for anything that they tried here. He knew that Palpatine got off worse once the Olympic committee was involved, but to know he would get away with this? At least there was the livestream and hopefully people enraged enough to come to their aid.

Palpatine did not put down the phone. “Who did you even get this from?” He paused and shook his head. “Never mind. I'll deal with it later. I think you two need to truly understand what I am capable of.”

He yanked Quinlan up by his arm again and dragged him away, dragged him to Cody, Rex, and Fox. They were still wearing blindfolds. They were not allowed to watch. They were just there to encourage Obi-Wan and Quinlan to do better and push themselves. 

Quinlan was limp in his grip, not fighting, just trying to breathe through the pain, tears still pouring down his face. It hurt so much. He whimpered when Palpatine dropped him down mere feet from Fox.

Fox straightened, worried that he could hear Quinlan crying so close. Worried that Quinlan was in such pain. And of course, there was the concern of just what was Palpatine planning? Why was he bringing Quinlan over now?

Palpatine grabbed Obi-Wan and pulled him over.

Obi-Wan stumbled but kept up, despite how his own aches were starting to linger. Despite how they were starting throb and there was the occasional sharp pain through his legs. He had been severely injured, even if he was mostly recovered, he was going to feel the effects more and more as he got older. And Palpatine was pushing them far too hard to begin with, let alone with where Obi-Wan was in his recovery.

Palpatine forced him to his knees next to Quinlan. Then he ordered the thugs to remove the blindfolds. “I want you to see their faces. It does not matter that the police won't listen to you, you still tried to contact them. And so... you're going to watch their pain.”

Cody and Rex frantically looked at Obi-Wan, wanting to see how he was after all that torture.

Fox just looked sadly at Quinlan, hating to see Quinlan so torn down, so sad.

Quinlan pulled himself into a sitting position and whimpered, trying to ignore the sharp stabs of pain in his back.

Obi-Wan pressed closer to Quinlan to offer comfort, taking his hand and squeezing it, giving him something to anchor himself against the pain.

Quinlan gave him a grateful look. 

Palpatine pulled out a gun. “Now... since you two just had to try to find a way out of this... You are going to watch them die.”

Quinlan froze. Obi-Wan squeezed his hand, heart pounding, panic rising.

“And it will be a slow, painful death.”

Palpatine shot Cody in the chest, then in the stomach. He stopped to watch in satisfaction as the blood poured out.

Cody looked down with dawning horror and sat down hard as it hit him just what had happened.

“CODY!” Obi-Wan lurched forward, scrambling to his side. He was surprised when Palpatine let him go, but was not going to squander this opportunity.

Palpatine then shot Fox in the same places. 

Fox glared at him. “Fuck you Skeev,” he spat as he sat down before the injuries could knock him down. “Fuck you.” 

Quinlan stared with horror and grief. He started crawling to Fox, not even thinking of staying put when he could be at Fox's side, not when Fox was dying. Quinlan had to stop a few times as the pain threatened to overwhelm him, but he grit his teeth and pulled himself along anyways. 

Palpatine then shot Rex in the same way. 

Obi-Wan pulled him down before he could fall, crying. “No, no, no, not both of you. I don't want to lose you...” He wrapped his arms around each of them and sobbed. 

Cody touched his face. “It's okay Obi... not your fault. We love you.”

Obi-Wan's breathe hitched. “I love you too... both of you. So much.” He just held them close, ignoring all protests his body made.

As Quinlan reachd Fox, Palpatine smirked. “One more for good measure.” He shot Fox in the shoulder, then in the chest again. “You were the reason the Olympic committee got involved and banned me from coaching for the Olympics in any sport. You deserve to die a very painful death for that, Fox.”

Quinlan gasped. “No no... no...” He tried to stop the bleeding, but he had two hands and there were four wounds. He ignored his body's protests. “Fox!”

He was startled by Fox wrapping his arms around Quinlan and pulling him down on top of him. 

“Shh, it's okay Quin, it's okay. It's not your fault, and it's okay.” Fox weakly rubbed his back. “Don't hurt yourself more. He' s going to keep pushing you.” 

Quinlan sobbed. “It doesn't matter he's going to keep pushing us until we die. Or he gets tired of us and kills us. He wants us to suffer.”

“Hey, hey, it's okay, Quin. I got you. Don't worry about me.”

“ Why do you have to die when I'm the one who wants to die?” 

“Whoa, Quin. Don't think like that, okay? I believe in you. You're going to be okay...” Fox's hands dropped as he lost strength. “Quin... I...” He fell unconscious before he could say anything more.

Quinlan stared at him and started sobbing harder, clinging to Fox, desperately wishing for any way that would save him. 

Cody and Rex were still whispering to Obi-Wan about how much they loved him, how much they enjoyed taking care of him, and so on. They were growing weaker, not quite to the point of passing out, not yet. 

Sheev was watching with glee nearby, phone still held loosely in his grip. 

“NO!” Obi-Wan yelled when first Cody fell unconscious and then Rex did. He cradled them as close as he could and sobbed. 

In the meantime, Quinlan just kind of... stopped. He just lay on top of Fox, staring ahead blankly, unable to handle the pain anymore, not the mental or the emotional. He loved Fox. He really did. There was no denying it anymore and now Fox was almost gone and he never got to tell him, had never been able to get up the courage to push past his anxiety. And in his final moments, Fox was more concerned with Quinlan. 

As Quinlan lay there catatonic and Obi-Wan grieved, doors burst open with state police and the FBI. Quinlan didn't react at all, but Obi-Wan looked up in surprise. They had arrived. Were they in time to save Rex and Cody? And Fox?

A couple of the agents rushed over to them, leaving others to deal with Palpatine. They started applying first aid immediately, one pausing long enough to relay the situation with injuries. 

All throughout, Quinlan remained unresponsive, retreating into his mind to protect himself. 

Obi-Wan however was responsive, answering questions. 

He found out as they talked that the livestream was still going. They wanted to turn it off but asked if he wanted to say something before they did so.

Obi-Wan nodded and smiled for the camera. “Well... I'm not sure how help arrived, but it seems to be in time. Thank you. I don't know when Quin will be back. But I think both of us will have to keep you updated. Thank you to all of you for helping us get attention.” He nodded to the agent and they turned off the livestream.

Then he was loaded into an ambulance. With everything, they just wanted to be safe. Obi-Wan completely understood. He would too, in their shoes.

It turned out he had several stress fractures and he had lost weight from all of that. He was kept for observation, to be sure there were no other issues. 

Quinlan on the other hand... He had retreated so far into his mind that nothing was drawing him out, not even Obi-Wan visiting and talking to him. The doctors weren't sure how to help.

Obi-Wan had one idea, but it would have to wait.

.

Fox gasped at the sight of Quinlan. He was awake, sitting in bed, but just staring blankly ahead. It looked like he wasn't there at all. This wasn't his Quinlan. 

He looked up at Wolffe, who had volunteered to help the nurses take him to visit Quinlan. “I hope Obi-Wan is right.”

Wolffe raised an eyebrow at him. “When has Obi-Wan ever been wrong? Especially when it comes to Quinlan.”

Fox took in a deep breath. “You're right.” He let Wolffe push him up to the bed. Then he carefully reached for Quinlan's hand. He had broken fingers on both hands, had several broken bones, and his torso was still sore from the healing bullet wounds. But it had been more than a week, and Quinlan was still unresponsive. Fox was not going to wait any longer to try.

Quinlan didn't react when Fox pulled the hand to him. Didn't react with Fox squeezed. 

Fox sighed. “Hey Quin. I know others have told you that I'm alive, but I'm hear to show you that I'm alive. Help arrived in time. They saved me. Your livestream saved me, they were able to track it to the phone. You had so many people contacting the FBI and state police and doing whatever they could to get someone's attention. And several people were watching to the end, wanting to ensure you were not alone.”

Quinlan blinked and took a deep breath. 

Fox squeezed his hand. “I'm here, Quin.” 

Quinlan turned to look at him, and as soon as he saw Fox, he was crying. 

Fox leaned over and tried to hug him, hissing at the pull on his injuries. “I'm here, I'm alive. It's okay, Quin. We're going to be okay.”

“Fox!” Quinlan hugged him as tightly as he dared, sobbing. “You're alive! You're here! I thought... I thought I'd lost you.”

“Never, Quin, never. I'm here. I'm alive.” Fox glanced at Wolffe. Wolffe was looking out the window and pretending he was not there. Wolffe had truly been the best choice for this.

So Fox turned to calming Quinlan down. It took far longer than he expected. Quinlan wasn't typically so emotional. And yet... 

Quinlan eventually calmed down. “I can't believe you survived.”

“It was a near thing. If they had arrived even five minutes later I probably wouldn't have survived. But I'm here now, Quin.”

Quinlan nodded, still teary. “I'm glad you're here I thought... it was my fault.”

“Never your fault. Always Skeevy Sheev's fault. He's the one who's making these decisions instead of leaving us alone. He didn't have to go after us like that, but he wanted his revenge. We don't have to blame ourselves for his choices. There was nothing we could have done that wouldn't have upset him eventually.”

“I guess you're right.”

They were both silent for a while.

“Quin? Why were you so upset about the idea of me dying?” It had been bothering him since he heard.

Quinlan fidgeted and looked away. He took a few fortifying breaths and started speaking quickly, not ever looking at Fox the entire time.

“It's... well, I love you and I knew that but I wasn't prepared for how much it hurt, I wasn't prepared to lose you because of... well what happened and I never said anything 'cause I know you wouldn't want someone like me and I'm still not sure why you're my friend but I'm happy to keep it that way so don't please don't let this ruin our friendship.” Quinlan had a few tears that escaped at the thought of it. 

Wolffe mentally wondered what possessed him to agree to this. Romantic drama was not what he signed up for. This was insane.

Fox carefully pulled himself onto the bed, just so that he could make Quin look at him. “I love you too, doofus.” Fox kissed him briefly then winced and pulled away. “I was just waiting for you to be in a better place for a relationship to say something. You have enough on your plate without worrying about navigating a relationship. I had no idea you felt the same, or that you were thinking so negatively about yourself. I love you for you, Quin. No injuries will ever change that. Truth be told, I was crushing on you before you saved me, before your crash, and the feelings have only gotten stronger.”

Quinlan just cried, overwhelmed with joy and relief.

.

Obi-Wan sat between Cody and Rex's bed, just happy he didn't have to choose between who he was sitting with. They were alive, they were going to get better, even if it would be a while before they could bobsled again. Even if Obi-Wan had to wait longer to go bobsledding himself. 

They didn't have much to say, Obi-Wan was much better about his guilt than Quinlan, and they were already well aware of their feelings. There were few misunderstandings to have.

But what Obi-Wan was astonished by was the outpouring of support. Both livestreams had gone viral, covered by many, with many reacts to it. There were content warnings all over the place for them, of course, but it was still widely viewed.

Some had accused them of creating a publicity stunt, but a lot of that died down after the second one went viral, where Obi-Wan waved to the camera with blood covered hands... and the rest of him, from holding Cody and Rex and trying to help them. It was hard to fake that kind of thing, especially since it was apparent there were paramedics taking care of the others around, just at the edges of the view. 

The actual news reports that showed them being removed from the house on stretchers also went a long way to disproving the theory.

What was even more astonishing was the requests for him to create a youtube channel. He would have to come up with which of his hobbies besides singing to showcase, but he thought it could be fun. 

But he had another idea. In a few months, probably even a year, once they were all cleared to train for bobsledding again, they, being Obi-Wan, Quinlan, Cody and Rex would have a channel dedicated to their journey to the Olympics, with appearances from Fox, and Aayla and Anakin too. Showcasing not just how difficult it was for them with the injuries, but how they trained, what their days were like. 

Obi-Wan was certain Quinlan would bobsled again, and after everything Skeevy Sheev had done, he wanted to ensure that they got the chance to. That they could have a middle finger to his revenge, coming together stronger than ever and proving they never needed him. 

Quinlan just needed to believe in himself.