Archive: SWA-L, master & apprentice
Disclaimer: George Lucas, et al, own Star Wars. I own this story. Also,
schmoop and sentimentality ahead.
Pairing: Q/O
Rating: PG
Series: #1 in the Bridge Series
"Obi-Wan, what are you doing?"
"Drawing, Master."
Qui-Gon, lying on his stomach, felt his apprentice's legs squeeze gently around his hips.
"My weight isn't bothering you, is it, Master?" The younger man slid backwards, moving from the small of Qui-Gon's back to his buttocks.
"No. Why are you drawing on my back?"
He heard Obi-Wan chuckle softly. "Did you know that Master Windu has the most exquisite tattoo of an astromech droid on his back?"
"No. And how do you know about it, my Padawan?"
"How do you think, Master?"
Qui-Gon shifted slightly, and Obi-Wan's weight on him eased. "If you tell me that you and Mace Windu--"
"He is lovely, don't you think?"
"I don't believe it."
"Oh, relax. It was lightsaber instruction. He wanted me to watch how his muscles moved differently when fighting battle droids than they did with humans."
"Hm." Qui-Gon turned his head and tried to meet his apprentice's eyes.
"Hold still," Obi-Wan said, and laid a hand on the other man's bare shoulder. "It's almost finished."
"You didn't tell me why you are drawing on my back."
"Master Windu said that the droid had meaning for him. One of his Padawan learners told him he was like an astromech droid: tenacious, always ready to fix things or to keep things together, obsessed with the details, and willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. So he had the tattoo done as a tribute to his Padawan."
"What does that have to do with--"
"I'm doing this as a tribute to my master, Master. Hush."
"So what are you drawing?" He heard the soft exhalation that meant Obi-Wan was smiling.
"A bridge, Master. Because you showed me the bridge to my future. I could never see it before, but you taught me. You showed me all the bridges there are, from fear to anger to hate; from patience to love to joy--how to know which bridge I am on, and how to follow it or leave it." Qui-Gon felt his apprentice lean forward, and then the press of lips between his shoulder blades. "And, my master, because I know that if I fall from any of these bridges, I will fall into you--into a river running strong and swift and gentle beneath me."
Qui-Gon laughed then, feeling Obi-Wan's body pressing along his back. "You are a sentimentalist, my Padawan."
"You're easy to be sentimental about, my Master."
"Hm. Shall we see if this river can drown you?" He flipped over, and Obi-Wan tumbled away from him, off the bed, and onto the floor. "Rivers are unpredictable, Obi-Wan. Remember that the next time you draw on my back."
He stood and walked away, wondering how long it would take his apprentice to process the fact that there would be a "next time".