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Mace would have been disgusted with the domesticity of it all, and if Dooku had not been too dignified to do it, he would even have rolled his eyes. Their two friends were not present, though, and Obi-Wan loved everything around him exactly how it was. Truth be told, the joy that had sparkled in his chest all day had felt unreal at times. His life did seem almost too perfect right now.
The cold of winter did not reach their living room that was warm and cozy with the golden glow of the fireplace. The crackling fire’s soft light flickered across the walls and cast a golden shimmer on the ornaments on and still piled around the Christmas tree. The heavily falling snow hid the even huger pines looming outside their windows with its dancing flakes. It was perfect, Obi-Wan thought, like the only world that existed in this moment was their little bubble of happiness that was only filled with their closeness, their laughter, and the wonderful smell of Qui-Gon’s cookies that were cooling down on the table filled with tinsel, angel ornaments, and dozens of candles that still needed to find a place on the emerald tree. If there had been some slow Christmas song blasting from the radio on top of all this, it truly would have been too good to be true.
Obi-Wan’s happy vibes were not at all dimmed by such a minor circumstance as the absence of music. He simply made his own by singing an old tune while bobbing to the sound of his own voice. This way he had managed to decorate almost all of their pine without noticing. Right now he was standing on one of the higher rungs of the ladder with his left foot precariously stretched into thin air to keep the balance needed to reach towards some cheeky branch of the tree.
“Take care, darling!” Qui-Gon warned with a smile on his lips that somehow obscured his good intentions. He still thought it was cute that Obi-Wan wanted to decorate the pine for them both, even though Qui-Gon’s greater height would have made it so much easier for him to do it. “As much as the sight amuses me, you have not achieved the ability to fly yet as to my knowledge. And you should know how to float on air if you keep on distracting yourself with your singing.”
“Nonsense! I’m fully concentrated on the task!” Obi-Wan literally continued his melody before he had even finished contradicting his husband.
“I can absolutely hear that,” Qui-Gon chuckled with an amused shake of his head.
His beloved was not the best of singers—far from that, actually—but he simply couldn’t stop the smile grazing his lips when he listened to the man he adored drifting off-key again and again or even skipping a note that simply needed to be there for reasons of aesthetics. His chest felt all warm with his mood soaring up high.
“Darling, I have to insist for you to stop singing. If not for your own well-being, then for our lovely Christmas tree. I fear that if you don’t have mercy on us, the poor thing will topple over to commit suicide any minute now.”
“You adore my singing, love.”
“I adore you, but that is not the point. Please, do take more care! This is a ladder, not a barre.”
The red-head laughed and started wobbling just so slightly because of it. “By the way, do you want another one of your naked angels on the tree? I could hide them all up here where nobody but you will see them.”
“Very funny, indeed!”
“What can I say? I am a great comedian and I love to make you laugh,” Obi-Wan claimed when he reached out to finally hang the Christmas bauble atop the highest branch—and slipped.
“Obi-Wan!” Qui-Gon shouted and jumped forward just in time. He caught the falling man, his arms wrapping tight around his beloved and pressing him to his now racing heart. Obi-Wan stared at him with his green eyes being so huge, Qui-Gon felt like drowning in them. It was the awkward position they were in that made them both burst out in laughter as soon as the shock faded. The sound of both their voices mingled with the soft crackle of the fire. At this moment Mace would surely have fainted from the abundance of embarrassing sweet talk.
“You’re always looking out for me,” Obi-Wan whispered with a look so full of wonder, it made Qui-Gon’s heart ache in the most wonderful way.
He brushed a stray strand of hair from behind his beloved’s ear and nodded. “If you fall, I’ll catch you. Always. I have sworn this to you and I don’t intend to ever break my promise.” The kiss they shared then was loving and warm—and a promise of its own. Afterwards, Qui-Gon’s one-sided grin returned to his face. “I have a proposition to make, though. Listen to my warnings when given or don’t fall ignoring them. It’s a simpler system.”
“You are nagging me all the time, love. How am I supposed to know which advice to give precedence?” Obi-Wan asked with a cheeky smile and climbed back up the ladder to get this one resisting bauble where he needed it to be.
“Let me at least help you a little,” Qui-Gon offered looking up to his husband still beaming with happiness. “We’re married now. Decorating the tree together can be our new tradition.”
And something about this idea obviously rang right in Obi-Wan’s ears, because he let Qui-Gon hand him ornaments and even pointed at spaces he wanted to hang them. It was somewhat romantic, and more fun, too.
At one point Obi-Wan leaned down from the ladder just enough to press a gentle kiss against Qui-Gon’s forehead—a delight that he had never experienced without one or both of them lying in bed. It was a warm kiss and lingering with overflowing affection.
“I love you,” he whispered against Qui-Gon’s skin and felt his own words reverberate in the depth of his heart and soul—both of which he had gifted Qui-Gon underneath the Christmas tree one year ago as his most valuable present.
“I love you, too, you know,” Qui-Gon said with a soft smile unwilling to let go of his beloved again. He took Obi-Wan’s left hand and interlaced their fingers, making it twice as difficult to finish decorating the tree, but tripling their joy because they did it so closely together.
Soon there was nothing to do anymore, so they simply went on overstuffing the tree just because they enjoyed doing it: hanging more baubles, draping chains of lights around the branches, squeezing in some candles they could now no longer light without burning down the tree and half their little house along with it... They even laughed at the occasional ornament that slipped (and was saved by the thick carpet) because the clumsiness created through only using one of their hands respectively added to the joy of this cozy moment.
Eventually, they took a step back to admire their finished work. The tree glimmered and sparkled because of all the fixed lights, its branches were almost too heavy with all the different kinds of ornaments, and Obi-Wan had kindly added all the little naked angels that Qui-Gon had been gifted by Anakin years ago—as a joke quite possibly that had become a cherished memory, though. And the firelight danced around them where they stood and reflected off the simple gold bands on their fingers—their wedding rings, those precious circles representing the infinity of their love.
Qui-Gon reached for Obi-Wan’s hand once more and drew him close. “Is this pine worthy of being the first one after our wedding?”
Obi-Wan nodded with a smile and rested his head on his beloved’s shoulder. “Not only that. The tree, the lights, the scent, our presents… everything is perfect today. But you?” he asked with a look of awe. “You’re most perfect and my favorite ornament of all.”
“Oh, I really hope I am not just that.”
“Rest assured, you are not.” Obi-Wan kissed Qui-Gon’s neck and wondered how one single person could gift him such happiness all on his own. “And I’ll show you. For the rest of our lives.”