Lifting
his padawan up into the air by holding under his armpits, Anakin
hooted as the doors opened in front of them, catching his padawan off
guard. “I have the best karking padawan in the entire galaxy! He
called out while entering the council chamber, Obi-Wan squeaking and
kicking both his flesh and metal leg while staring at the council
with wide eyes.

They
stared back, several doing their best to cover their mouth or
pretending to be disapproving.

Well
some of them were of course.

Skywalker
was a peculiar case and he often went against tradition, so they had
to reign him in.

But
seeing young Kenobi squirming, blushing while being praised was nice.

“What
in the name of the Force are you doing Knight Skywalker?” Mace
raised his brows, staring down the man as he peeked around his
padawan, still holding Obi-Wan aloof.

“What
I’m saying,” Anakin was giddy with happiness, putting Obi-Wan
down on his feet finally only to drag him back into a tight hug. “Is
that this little monster is the best thing to come out of the creche
since I saw Ferrus Olin covered in slime paint after he let the
younglings take charge of the art lesson.” He cooed, rubbing his
chin on top of Obi-Wan’s head.

Flushing
darkly, Obi-Wan squeaked and covered his face with his hands.
“Master!” He whined, squirming but not really doing much to
escape Anakin’s tight grip.

Beaming,
Anakin straightened a bit, his eyes sparkling as he looked around the
council chamber. “There we were, middle of a civil war when
Obi-Wan, my brilliant little monster of a padawan, recklessly steps
out with the princeling by the ear in rebel gear, pulling him over to
his mother while demanding the prince explain that no, he was not
abducted and yes, he was the one who had started the rebellion
because he was feeling neglected,” Anakin went back to cuddling the
boy. “This brilliant little genius figured out what was going on in
less than two days and it took him two days to find the prince, four
days in total!” Anakin cackled happily.

Sitting
back in his chair, Mace stared at the two before snorting. “That
does explain why the two of you are back this quickly… we suspected
you would take another month minimum at least.” He drawled, his
lips twitching hard along with glittering eyes the only sign of his
amusement at the squeaking and blushing padawan.

Honestly,
the young padawan needed that kind of positive attention.

But
they really needed to get Skywalker back on track and so, Yoda
thwapped his cane on his chair, forcing the knight to look up and
focus, reluctantly, on the master’s to give their debrief to the
council.

They
would of course expect the physical report, this time sure that they
would get it from the master instead of the padawan as Skywalker kept
the teen right in front of him with his arms around the boy.

He
wasn’t about to let him go.

It
was good for him, they all knew that even if it was a breach of
conduct, they would allow it to go for now until Obi-Wan was more
secure in his position.

And
it was nice to see how he was smiling shyly down at his feet.

Whatever
damage Qui-Gon had done to the young boy, Skywalker was doing his
damned best to fix the wrongs that had happened to the teen now in
his charge, giving his all to comfort and heal while also providing a
stable foundation.

‘And
maybe,’ Mace narrowed his eyes, feeling several shatterpoints fade
from Skywalker’s being. ‘Young Kenobi will do a galaxy of good
for Skywalker too. Interesting…’ He noted to himself as the
Tatooine native continued praising his padawan.

Maybe,
just maybe this was the beginning of something light and warm.

Maybe
the darkness the council could spy on the horizon would not pass as
darkly as they worried.

Maybe
Kenobi was the key to everything.

Maybe.

One
could always hope.

“Just
don’t start singing Knight Skywalker.” Mace offered drolly,
smirking at the squeaking noises from padawan Kenobi.