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Ahsoka woke silently, not sitting up in fear of hitting her head on the bars above her. She went to wrap her arms around her exposed middle, when her hands met fabric.
The world seemed to blur, she had been so sure she was on Zygerria, but that didn’t make sense. Wasn’t that over? But she had thought…
Ahsoka stumbled out of bed, kicking off the bit of blanket that threatened to trip her and found herself at Anakin’s door.
Ever since Zygerria, it had become much more common for Ahsoka to venture into her Master’s room at night to find comfort. More often than not he was awake before her, so it worked out.
She had found herself strictly following the code less and less, allowing herself to follow in Anakin’s footsteps in that regard. Who cares about forbidden attachments when you’re dreaming of being trapped in a cage and electrocuted?
She didn’t knock. She didn’t have to anymore. It was because of this that she was shocked into stilling and snapping almost fully back to reality when she saw two figures instead of one.
Anakin was sweaty, eyes glossy but with a tired, fond smile on his face, like someone had just told a joke. Obi-Wan was beside him, their shoulders touching and the older man’s hand on the younger’s knee.
“You didn’t have to come” Anakin said to his former-Master quietly, but was brushed off almost as soon as the sentence was complete.
“Did you truly think I wouldn’t?” Obi-Wan replied with a squeeze to Anakin’s shoulder. “If it’s bad enough for you to comm me, then of course I’ll come”
Anakin winced and looked down “It wasn’t, though, I was just…”
“Scared” Obi-Wan finished gently “That’s okay. You’re 20, you’re barely a legal adult. It’s okay to be scared”
Ahsoka was very sure that she wasn’t meant to be hearing this.
Foolishly, it hadn’t occurred to Ahsoka that Anakin was having nightmares too. She had always thought of him getting the easiest side of Zygerria, and maybe he did, who knows, (Anakin definitely wasn’t going to talk about it) but the experience was traumatic for everyone involved, especially one who was a slave before. Of course he’d want his Master.
Just as she was about to back out, heart already clenching at the loss of the comfort she had craved, Anakin’s head snapped up.
“Snips,” He said in that rough but soft voice that he so often bore in these early hour talks. Obi-Wan looked up at his words, face contorting between looking surprised, upset, then concerned.
“I can go” Ahsoka said quietly, but her hands were shaking and she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her for much longer.
Anakin rolled his eyes and opened his arms to her. Ahsoka saw Obi-Wan frown in what looked like surprise.
“Don’t be ridiculous. C’mere”
Well, she couldn’t say no to her Master.
Ahsoka slid herself easily under Anakin’s arm, hiding her face in the nook between his shoulder and neck. She didn’t want to imagine the silent conversations her Master and Grandmaster were having over her head. She just wanted to focus on Anakin and Anakin alone.
He lifted her head for a moment to slip his outer layer off, then placed her back where she was and draped the layer around her shoulders. Ahsoka shivered and wrapped herself tightly in it, feeling Anakin’s chin against the top of her head.
“She gets them too,” Anakin said above her, words murmured quietly under the assumption that Ahsoka was too upset to pay attention. “Since…everything. And sometimes before”
“I can’t say I’m surprised” Obi-Wan’s voice said back. Ahsoka felt a gentle squeeze on her shoulder that couldn’t be from Anakin, since his arms were wrapped around her waist and back. “Zygerria was a mess”
“What isn’t a mess in this war?” Anakin replied, pressing his cheek against one of Ahsoka’s montrals. Ahsoka sighed and moved into it slightly. She felt Anakin’s thumb start to rub up and down on her back gently, a constant reassurance that he was here and paying attention.
Obi-Wan sighed, then stood. Ahsoka shifted so she could peek out at them just in time to see Obi-Wan pressing a gentle kiss to Anakin’s forehead. Anakin closed his eyes for a moment, as if to savour it, then opened his eyes and smiled a little.
Obi-Wan’s gaze shifted down to meet hers, and, Ahsoka assumed, since the position she was in with Anakin made it too awkward to kiss her head, he gently took one of her hands and kissed the back of it, then left the room.
Anakin’s full attention shifted now, one hand moving to wipe a tear from Ahsoka’s cheek.
“Do you want to talk?” He offered gently, brushing his thumb against Ahsoka’s cheekbone.
Ahsoka just shook her head, then hid her face again. She didn’t want to talk. She wanted to erase the memory from her mind and go about her life like she had before.
“Nothing even happened,” She mumbled into his robes before she could stop herself. She hadn’t meant to say that.
Anakin rested his chin between her montrals, making sure not to put the full weight of his head on hers, just enough for it to be comforting.
“That isn’t what matters. It could’ve, and what they said was disgusting and inhumane. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t actually touch you, it matters that they spoke about it and objectified you,” He kissed her head, something Ahsoka was now sure he’d picked up from Obi-Wan “You didn’t deserve that”
“I’m glad they couldn’t tame you” Ahsoka said in a tired voice as she heard the door to the room open again.
Obi-Wan’s force signature darkened slightly, probably both because of the conversation he realised was occurring and the sentence Ahsoka had said.
Anakin too, had tensed, but Ahsoka wouldn’t have realised if she wasn’t cradled in his arms.
“What do you mean, Snips?”
She thought about lifting her head so their eyes could meet, but decided against it.
“The guy, he said that once the Queen tamed you, then I’d be- I’d be his” Ahsoka explained in as quiet a voice as she could while still being audible.
Almost at once, Obi-Wan sat back down and pulled Anakin, and Ahsoka by association, into his arms. They ended up in a position where Obi-Wan was sitting with his back against the headboard of the bed, Anakin was under his arm and resting slightly on his chest, and Ahsoka was resting on Anakin’s chest but with her legs thrown over Obi-Wan’s.
“You never had anything to worry about, Dear one,” Obi-Wan said to her with a small smile when Anakin didn’t respond. “I don’t think it’s possible to ‘tame’ Anakin, you’d be better off trying to teach a bantha to tap dance”
Ahsoka snorted at the imagery and looked up to see Anakin’s reaction. He just rolled his eyes and elbowed Obi-Wan in the side, but extremely gently, probably due to the wounds on his Master that hadn’t yet fully healed.
Obi-Wan looked tired too, but there was a peace to him that Ahsoka and Anakin didn’t possess. No wonder he was on the council, his very aura radiated knowledge and wisdom. It was something that she knew infuriated Anakin at times, probably because it was hard to live up to as a hot-headed Padawan, but Ahsoka found it comforting. It was something stable.
Despite that, he was the skinniest that Ahsoka had ever seen him, and he was watching over the two of them with a protectiveness that she had never seen on him before. He seemed determined to keep him safe, ready to jump into action at a moments notice like he was still in the mines with Rex.
Ahsoka only snapped out of her observations when she was passed a mug of tea. She glanced up to see Obi-Wan looking at her with an amused smile, and she flushed with the realisation that her observing nature had been noticed.
It was now she realised that when Obi-Wan had left, it was to get tea. Of course. Anakin’s was passionflower, which he had taken a strong liking to when Obi-Wan had forced him to try it, and Ahsoka’s was a simple peppermint, since she hadn’t wandered outside of the simple flavours yet.
She smiled a little and took a sip, pressing her cheek against Anakin’s chest as she yawned. Anakin’s hand brushed over her cheek when she did, then settled on the nape of her neck.
They fell asleep like Dominos, Ahsoka drifting off first, leaving Anakin to take her half empty mug out of her hands and use the force to place it on the floor.
Then Obi-Wan, his face pressed into Anakin’s hair -which must cause a crick in his neck but he didn’t seem to be all too bothered- and one arm draped across his former Padawan’s waist.
Finally, Anakin. He had fought to stay awake, wanting to savour the moment of all three of them being content and safe at the same time before the moment broke. He let himself lean back to rest his full weight on Obi-Wan, pretending for a second that he was 13 again and seeking comfort during a thunderstorm. He gently tugged Ahsoka closer and kissed her forehead, then finally let his eyes close just as his mug was placed on the ground.