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The soft drum of the rain filled the shanty with the surreal aura of something magical, almost sacred. It pattered on the tin roof, tap, tap, tapping for entrance into the candle lit dwelling. Denied by the very tin it was landing on, the droplets slid down the roof past old logs long since taken from the forest and over the fogged up window pains that glowed a warm yellow from the light inside. Fourteen candles lit the room, casting shadows here and there and all the while driving others away. It was warm inside-- from the flame of the burning candles to the flame of the two men who moved as one on the bed. Soft moans - barely there whispers in the night - echoed through the room as they moved slowly towards completion. This was not the frantic love-making of the young, but the slow burn of a love that had stood the tests that time had presented. Stood them and perservered. These were men secure in themselves, each other and the collective them and their love had no place for hurried fumblings. They took their time as they rocked together, touching and kissing familiar skin, staring into eyes filled with desire and love. When they came, they came together, in each other's arms. They lay in silence for a long while, listening to the rain and feeling the flickers of warmth from the candle light. Finally it was the older one who spoke, painting a trail of warm kisses up to his lover's ear. "Now will you tell me why were are here, love?" His lover just smiled. "Because." "Oh." He nibbled at the ear before him, pressing a smiling kiss into the red hair. "Because." The younger one laughed. "Yes. Because. Because I love you. Because we needed the rest. Because I wanted a week alone with you, Qui-Gon. Pick your reason, but I am staying with because. Because is enough for me." Qui-Gon laughed. Because. "I can accept 'because.'" "Good." There was a long pause as Qui-Gon stroked the soft hair. "Thank you for bringing me here, Obi-Wan." The mouth against his chest smiled and issued a muffled reply. "I didn't catch that, love. But please, continue to have your conversation with my chest," Qui-Gon said. Obi-Wan raised his head and glared at him, but it didn't last long and the smile tugging on the corner of his lips ruined the whole effect. "I said, since obviously your chest wasn't paying attention, Qui-Gon, that I wanted-- I mean, I was hoping--" Obi-Wan took a deep breath, for courage, and then the words came tumbling out... "I was hoping that you would consider bonding with me. Here. I know I'm young, but I know, Qui, and I think, I hope you know, that for me, this - us - is permanent." He looked away from Qui-Gon, a faint blush colouring his face. Something warm and so incredibly right tingled through Qui-Gon and he pulled his lover up to him. "I hope that you know then, Obi-Wan, that I want us to be permanent too." Qui-Gon smiled, his heart aching with happiness. "Yes, I will bond with you. Here. I couldn't think of a better place." Qui-Gon kissed Obi-Wan, removing the gut wrenching nervousness that his former padawan must have been feeling to become so tongue tied. Pulling back, he looked at Obi-Wan. In the flickering light he looked so much younger than his twenty-six years, so much more vulnerable than he ever had been. The courage it would have taken to ask, when Qui-Gon himself had been delaying asking this very question himself for months now out of an irrational fear.... "Obi-Wan... I would be honoured to love you and stand by you, until the last of my days and the end of my nights. I pledge to you my love, my life and my soul." He captured a hand in his and brought it to his mouth, kissing it gently. Obi-Wan smiled, his confidence returning, though his heart beat was still beating fast. "Qui-Gon. I would be honoured to love you and stand by you, until the last of my days and the end of my nights. I pledge to you my love, my life and my soul." Another kiss, this one taking much longer and leading into something far more time consuming and later, when the rain had stopped, a whisper could be heard in the night. "Why?" "Because, love. Just because." |