Chapter Text
Obi-Wan stands, hands behind his back, trying not to fidget as much as Anakin is next to him. Arms folded in his robe, Qui-Gon regards them seriously.
“Did you really think you could fool me?” he asks.
“No, Master,” says Obi-Wan.
“Yes, Master,” says Anakin.
Obi-Wan glares at the boy. Of all the stupid things to admit.
“What?!” balks Anakin. “A true Jedi doesn’t lie, you’re the one who keeps saying that!”
Obi-Wan clenches his teeth and looks back at his former Master, who seems to be vaguely amused.
“That is to say, we did hope you wouldn’t take notice, Master, but our initial intent was not to fool you.”
Anakin now has his arms crossed and is kicking at the floor, scowling.
“Would you concur with Master Obi-Wan this time, my young Padawan?” asks Qui-Gon.
Anakin shrugs, glancing quickly at Obi-Wan, then looking at his Master before it can be requested of him.
“I guess? We weren’t thinking of you when we first started this, it was just a training thing.”
“And did it never cross your mind that I wouldn’t approve?”
Anakin shifts, obviously weary, and Obi-Wan can feel his face redden. Of course it crossed their minds.
“It did, Master,” admits Anakin. “But I didn’t think it was a big deal. And it was fun.”
“I see. Well, now that you’ve had your fun, can you tell me which of our rules you broke, Anakin?”
Anakin reacts strongly at that, eyes going wide and pleading.
“But it was condoned by a Master! Obi-Wan’s a Master!”
“And Master Obi-Wan is in trouble of his own,” answers Qui-Gon, giving Obi-Wan a meaningful look before focusing once more on his Padawan. “But it is you we are discussing at the moment. I will not ask again.”
Anakin stays silent a short while, struggling with admitting his faults, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet and tangling his fingers in the hem of his tunic. Finally, he sighs, and lowers his head.
“I was not forthcoming about what I was doing and didn’t keep you informed of my whereabouts and occupations,” he recites.
Obi-Wan gapes.
“You didn’t tell him we were training together??”
Anakin looks at Obi-Wan and shakes his head ruefully. This is worse than Obi-Wan thought.
“Obi-Wan?” prompts Qui-Gon.
“Sorry Master, I, I knew he wasn’t disclosing how we spent our time together, but I thought he was telling you he was with me at least,” babbles Obi-Wan.
“Does full dishonesty truly seem that much worse to you than partial dishonesty? Because I can firmly say that I frown upon both,” states Qui-Gon calmly.
Obi-Wan stops talking. This is an old point of friction between them. Obi-Wan is prone to using omission and delicate wording to tell half-truths and almost-lies, which is a skill Qui-Gon respects when it is used in negotiation, but finds inadmissible in a Master-Padawan relationship. And in a Master-Former Padawan relationship as well, which Obi-Wan is keenly aware of.
“With me,” orders Qui-Gon, and he starts walking away.
Anakin, feet dragging, follows, and Obi-Wan is about to go his own way to meditate about this, when Qui-Gon’s voice rings out again, mild, but containing steel.
“You too, Obi-Wan.”
Obi-Wan freezes a second, but he can tell from the tone that Master Qui-Gon is very serious indeed, and he jogs to catch up with his retreating form.
Qui-Gon ushers Anakin and Obi-Wan into his quarters.
Anakin is sulking, his energy mottled with annoyance and self-recrimination. Obi-Wan is cautious, shields tight, demeanor neutral, but his shifting eyes betray his nerves. Qui-Gon points at the couch.
“Sit,” he instructs.
Anakin flops down dramatically, and Obi-Wan sits slowly, back rigid, shoulders tense.
Qui-Gon walks to stand in front of them, arms folded in his sleeves.
“Anakin, I believe we have sufficiently spoken of your misdeeds. You understand why you are in trouble?”
Anakin’s foot swings back and forth, kicking at the couch, but he replies promptly.
“Yes, Master.”
“And you know the consequence for your actions?”
Anakin bites at his lip, and glances side-eyed at Obi-Wan, who is still and rigid, staring straight in front of him.
Anakin huffs.
“A spankin’, Master,” he mumbles, face growing red.
“Indeed. We will get to that shortly. Obi-Wan?”
His former Padawan’s eyes dart up to meet his, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Qui-Gon can feel how febrile he is under the surface. Even Anakin, breaking out of his sulk, looks at him with confusion.
“I did not expect such behavior from you,” simply states Qui-Gon. “Tell me why it was wrong.”
Obi-Wan swallows, and works his jaw.
“Anakin and I –“
“We have discussed Anakin’s misdeeds already. I am asking for yours,” cuts in Qui-Gon, calm but firm.
Obi-Wan cringes slightly.
“I was… dishonest?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
Obi-Wan visibly shakes himself together at that, and breathes in deeply.
“Sorry. Telling you, Master Jinn. I was dishonest, and concealed my actions from you, actions which regarded your Padawan’s training, which was a gross overstepping on my part, especially since I knew you would frown upon our chosen activities. I apologize.”
Qui-Gon nods.
“Thank you, Obi-Wan. I hope you agree with me that that behavior cannot go unpunished.”
“Yes, Master.”
Anakin’s head whips up at that.
“But Obi-Wan’s a Knight!” he exclaims.
Obi-Wan’s focus shifts at once. He has always been quick to answer Anakin’s needs, and sometimes, his demands.
“Discipline is at the core of the Jedi order, Anakin,” he explains, his voice taking on the level tone he uses when teaching. “Knights also have to answer for their misguided actions. It is why we report to the Council after every mission, and also in cases of unruliness or unsubordination.”
Anakin’s head snaps back to Qui-Gon, and he jumps off the couch, eyes wide with consternation.
“Don’t report him to the Council, Master! It was my fault, I insisted, and I didn’t tell him how much I was hiding from you, I’m sure he would’ve come forward if I had, and –“
“Anakin,” interrupts Qui-Gon.
Anakin stops dead, well trained to obey that particular tone of voice.
“I am not reporting Obi-Wan to the Council.”
“You’re not?” interjects Obi-Wan.
“No,” says Qui-Gon, and he turns back to Anakin. “In fact, his consequences will be much the same as yours.”
Anakin gapes, gobsmacked at that. Obi-Wan goes very still, pales slightly, and takes a deep, deep breath. His face relaxes into that oh-so-mature demeanor he has trained so hard to perfect. The neutral stance of a negotiator.
“Master,“ he starts, sounding slightly chiding and extremely reasonable.
Qui-Gon cuts to the chase before his former Padawan can dig a deeper hole for himself.
“In fact there is a saying. Padawans who misbehave together get punished together. I know you are already familiar with that particular concept, Obi-Wan.”
Obi-Wan’s composure wavers, as he no doubt reminisces on the many times he’s been punished alongside Master Vos.
“But I – I am not a Padawan anymore, Master.”
Qui-Gon shakes his head.
“While that is true, in this instance, you have very much behaved like one.” Obi-Wan opens his mouth, and closes it again as his Master continues. “You acted with Anakin not as a Master, but as an older peer. Very much akin to two Padawans who decide to go around their Masters’ backs to have fun together.”
Obi-Wan shakes his head.
“But it is worse than that, Master. As a Knight, I have no right to influence or dictate Anakin’s training without your input. It’s not just a matter of unruly Padawans, it is interfering with another Master’s teachings, and that should be reported to the Council.”
Qui-Gon can feel the edges of disbelief lift his eyebrows a fraction. He did expect Obi-Wan to say about anything to get himself out of the spanking, once he realized what Qui-Gon intended to do, but hearing him almost begging to be reported when being seen badly by the Council is one of his worst fears is still bizarre.
“I disagree. You are not just any Knight, Obi-Wan. You are part of my lineage, and of Anakin’s lineage. You two have a bond, and belong to each other in a way. Your intent was not to disrupt or sabotage my training of Anakin, nor was it to turn him against me or against the order.”
Again, Obi-Wan opens his mouth, as if to speak, but Qui-Gon stops him with a lifted hand.
“I have made my decision,” he says, final. “Up, both of you, and over the back of the couch with your trousers down.”
Anakin stands up to obey, still reeling. At almost thirteen, he was starting to think he was getting too old to be spanked, but apparently fully-qualified Knights get it too, so those hopes are dashed.
As he makes his way around the couch he notices two things. First, that he’s never started out a spanking bent over the couch. Qui-Gon usually puts him over his knee, and the couch only comes in play when Anakin’s behaved badly enough to earn the belt. Which has only happened once, when he’d endangered himself so badly he’d almost died, which isn’t the case now, but the idea of being spanked only over the couch still makes him very uneasy.
Second, Obi-Wan still isn’t moving.
“Obi-Wan. You are perilously toeing the line,” says Qui-Gon, in a tone so dry it’d make Anakin want to bury himself alive, in sand even, if it were ever directed at him.
He can’t hear it, but he can tell Obi-Wan is replying through his and Qui-Gon’s mind bond. The energy is frenetic, bouncing off of Qui-Gon’s immoveable wall of certitude.
Still without a spoken word, as Anakin dithers behind the couch, Obi-Wan suddenly springs up, but apparently he’s too late, because Qui-Gon very quickly and way too easily catches him by the bicep, turns him to the side, puts one foot up on the couch, and suddenly Obi-Wan is upended, and Qui-Gon’s hand is crashing down, hard, the first smack so loud it makes Anakin nearly jump out of his skin.
Five thunderous claps rain down, and Obi-Wan barely twitches, but Anakin knows they have to sting like crazy. He has the faint realization that Qui-Gon must hold back quite a lot when spanking him. Oddly, that doesn’t reassure him at all.
“Now act with the dignity that befits you, lest you want to cause yourself more embarrassment,” says Qui-Gon out loud, and he lets Obi-Wan stand.
Anakin quickly averts his eyes, staring at the couch as Obi-Wan stiffly makes his way next to him, radiating tension, unease, and mortification. Anakin feels his eyes fill with tears. Will Obi-Wan even want to be his friend after this? He’s being reprimanded and disciplined like a child, all because of Anakin.
“I believe I asked you to lower your trousers and to bend over,” Qui-Gon reminds them.
Anakin quickly undoes the laces that hold his clothes up, and shoves his trousers to his ankles. Obi-Wan follows suit, fumbling quite a bit, taking longer because he has to unclip his saber belt and set it down somewhere. With a deep breath, keenly aware of Obi-Wan moving simultaneously, albeit shakily, Anakin hoists himself up and bends over the back of the couch.
He has to stand on the very tip of his toes to get in the right position, and it makes him feel extremely young. Normally he doesn’t notice these things so keenly, but having Obi-Wan there puts everything in a new, heightened perspective.
Out of nowhere, Obi-Wan jerks, and lifts his head up.
“Master!” he hisses, to which Qui-Gon replies with a very loud smack.
Obi-Wan grunts and puts his head back down, pressing it into the cushions, looking like he’s trying to meld with them. A second later, Anakin understands why as his Master very matter-of-factly flips his tunic and pulls his underwear down to his knees.
He lets out a small whine. Qui-Gon doesn’t always start spankings on the bare – his hand is very effective over the thin protection of underwear – so this really doesn’t bode well.
“You were both dishonest,” says Qui-Gon simply. “I have never, and will never tolerate that from my lineage. I aim to spank both of you fairly, because I do not think either of you misbehaved more or less than the other. Obi-Wan, you being quite older and bigger, you will be getting a harsher spanking than Anakin, to account for those physical differences, and not because you are more to blame. You aren’t. Do you understand me?”
Obi-Wan lifts his head a fraction, and manages to reply, his voice very shaky.
“Yes, Master.”
Anakin feels like he should say something. It’s not fair that Obi-Wan should get spanked worse just because he’s older, when it was all Anakin’s fault. But before he can, with barely a warning, just Qui-Gon’s hand brushing his lower back, Anakin gets spanked, once, hard, on the center of his bottom. He jerks, and his breath catches, but he is nonetheless overwhelmed by relief when he realizes Qui-Gon is starting with his hand.
Still, Qui-Gon’s hands are very big, and very hard, and one smack covers about half of Anakin’s bottom, his fingers bitingly stingy.
Qui-Gon shifts, and he spanks Obi-Wan twice. Then he shifts back and spanks Anakin once.
He goes back and forth with this pattern, for quite a while, the heat in Anakin’s bottom becoming more and more difficult to endure. But Obi-Wan is not reacting at all, and Anakin does not want to seem weak in front of him. Maybe Jedi are supposed to be stoic about it? Anakin’s certainly never managed before, and Qui-Gon hasn’t requested him to stay still and quiet during a punishment, but if that’s what Obi-Wan is doing, Anakin will be darned if he doesn’t at least try.
So he grits his teeth, and concentrates on his breathing, keeping his body carefully tense and still, just like Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan wishes so ardently to be anywhere else in the galaxy, doing anything else, that he almost manages to completely dissociate from what is happening to him.
Almost.
If Qui-Gon’s hand didn’t sting quite so much, or if Obi-Wan didn’t feel quite so sorry for himself, maybe he’d be able to detach fully. But he also knows his Master wouldn’t allow it.
Still. He can’t quite face this head on. He’s twenty-eight, he’s been on multiple solo missions and has proven himself worthy of the title of Jedi Knight many times over. And here he is, being handspanked next to a twelve-year-old.
And he can only blame himself. How many times has his Master expressed his disapproval and disappointment regarding dishonesty? And instead of being a good example to Anakin, Obi-Wan acted just like an initiate, thinking he could get away with deception.
The young man is so miserably closed off in his own head that he doesn’t notice Master Qui-Gon’s change in intent until he’s executing it. Breaking the regular spanking pattern he’d put in place - one for Anakin, two for Obi-Wan - Qui-Gon gives Anakin ten resounding smacks in a row, that make the boy whimper, and a wave of agony and shame suddenly breaks through Obi-Wan’s walls, all of it coming from the young Padawan. It’s like a dam breaking. Feelings of inadequacy twirl with self-recrimination and fear, and sadness. Anakin is having a very bad time. Obi-Wan lifts his head a fraction, concerned for his young friend. For the first time since this whole ordeal started, he is not solely focused on himself, and he realizes with a jolt how selfish that has been. Of course, this is mortifying for him, but how difficult it must be for Anakin? It’s the first time he’s getting punished alongside someone else, and it’s with someone he looks up to, and that person has been steadily ignoring him. No wonder he feels keen emotional anguish in addition to the pain of their Master’s hand. Shame roils in Obi-Wan’s gut.
Qui-Gon shifts, and Obi-Wan feels a large hand grip at his hip, to hold him steady, and ten spanks fall, matching Anakin’s ordeal, all over his bottom, bringing the sting to intolerable levels. Obi-Wan gasps.
Back with us, Obi-Wan?
His Master’s pointed tone is not lost on him, and Obi-Wan, impossibly, blushes harder.
Yes, Master.
Through the Force, Qui-Gon adds weight to his next words.
See to it that you stay.
Five more spanks fall, catching the crease between Obi-Wan’s bottom and thighs, and he chokes out a whine.
Qui-Gon lets him go and steps back.
“You two are to remain exactly in this position. I will be back shortly.”
And Qui-Gon walks away, heading for the ‘fresher. Obi-Wan immediately turns to Anakin, who is grimacing very expressively.
“Are you okay?”
Anakin startles, and blinks at him, then looks down just as fast, face screwed tight.
“You don’t have to talk to me, Master Kenobi. I am sorry I got us in trouble.”
He sniffs pitifully, and, to Obi-Wan’s disbelief, starts crying despite himself, tears leaking from his eyes faster than he can wipe them away.
“What? Anakin, what do you mean?”
“All of this is my fault. I got you in trouble, so I understand if you hate me now.”
“Anakin! Of course I don’t hate you!”
Obi-Wan reaches to touch Anakin’s face and turn it back to face him.
“Yes, we got each other in trouble by encouraging each other to misbehave, but I would never hate you for that. I love you. You are like a brother to me.”
Anakin stares at him with huge, damp eyes.
“But you’re ignoring me,” he whispers.
Obi-Wan breathes in deeply. Of course. Of course Anakin read him retreating into himself as rejection. But he can make amends.
“I am sorry. I was closing myself off because of misplaced pride. I don’t blame you for this, in fact I blame myself. I know better than to try and hide anything from Master Qui-Gon.”
“But I lied to you too! You thought Master Qui-Gon knew I was with you!”
“Oh Anakin. While that is true, and it is very good of you to recognize it, I deserve this just as much as you do. I was deceitful regardless. It does not matter what could have been, it matters what was, and what is. And Master Qui-Gon is punishing you for all of your lying anyway.”
Anakin seems to ponder that for a short while, and glances at Obi-Wan again, tentative.
“So you’re not mad at me?”
“No, Anakin. I’m sorry I made you think so.”
Awkward as it is, they manage to wrap one arm around part of each other, in a strange approximation of a hug.
They hear steps, and, sniffling slightly, they break apart. Obi-Wan knows his Master to be able to move without a sound, so he knows the noise was for their benefit, and to offer them some privacy. He’s shuffling away from Anakin when Qui-Gon speaks.
“No Obi-Wan, you can stay where you were.”
Qui-Gon comes close and pushes them towards each other, so their hips are touching. They are both held in their Master’s grip, Anakin stuck between Qui-Gon’s leg and Obi-Wan’s side, Obi-Wan’s far hip held firmly in his Master’s hand.
“Master…” complains Obi-Wan, recognizing where this is going from previous experience.
“You will each get your age in smacks with the hairbrush, to finish this punishment. As Obi-Wan has surmised, I will be spanking both of you at the same time. If you were the same age, I would just alternate after one spank each, but this will be a bit more elaborate.”
“Master, please…”
“Silence, Obi-Wan. I want you to feel jointly chastised, as you have decided to jointly misbehave.”
With no further warning, Qui-Gon raises his arm and lets the brush do its work.
Having planned out how to lay out the spanks for this punishment to work out, Qui-Gon starts with his former Padawan’s bottom. He spanks hard, four times, two spanks on the crest of his behind, and two lower, on the crease between bottom and thighs. Obi-Wan tenses, but manages to stay silent. Qui-Gon shifts slightly without letting go of Obi-Wan, and spanks Anakin twice, on the roundest part of his bottom. Anakin lets out a small yelp.
He’s worked it out as follows: starting and finishing with Obi-Wan, the young man will get seven sets of four spanks, rounding up twenty-eight smacks. Between each set, Anakin will get two smacks, alternating between his sitspots and higher up on his bottom, for a total of twelve spanks.
He plans on dishing them out hard and fast, so as to overwhelm his boys and drive them to tears of repentance and acceptance - especially Obi-Wan, who has been struggling with this punishment from the start, albeit understandably so. Qui-Gon hopes a brisk application of the hairbrush will finally push him to the appropriate mental state to accept the reprimand and start afresh.
The second set catches Obi-Wan off guard. Maybe he expected Anakin to get more than two, maybe he was distracted by his young friend’s reaction - either way, his bottom is relaxed when the brush hits, and his flesh flattens in a way Obi-Wan usually manages to avoid, by clenching and tensing his buttocks in time with the spanks. As a result, the young man chokes out a pained sound, and manages to clench off-beat, all four smacks catching his relaxed cheeks and making them flatten and bounce back, ready for more. Obi-Wan’s legs are shaking slightly when Qui-Gon turns his attention to Anakin again, and gives him his two smacks, low, catching his sitspots hard enough for the boy’s feet to lift off the ground from the force of the smacks. Anakin yelps again, a wet, pitiful sound, and Qui-Gon sees Obi-Wan’s hand slide towards the boy to offer support. Qui-Gon is glad to see it. He is happy the boys were able to talk while he went to get the hairbrush. But he does not let his heart soften yet. The punishment is not over.
Anakin grips Obi-Wan’s hand like it’s a lifeline. His Master is not fooling around, and the brush has never felt worse. Anakin is trying to choke back his tears, in vain, as he is pushed further over the couch when Qui-Gon brings the brush down on his bottom. He knows he is getting twelve, and he knows these last two were just five and six, and he cannot fathom enduring six more. Next to him, Obi-Wan gets his four smacks, and he grunts, flexing his hand, face buried in the crook of his other arm, but this time Anakin knows it’s because he doesn’t want Anakin to see his tears. Too soon, before Anakin can be ready for them, smacks seven and eight land, and he wails as his sitspots burn, kicking his legs uselessly.
“None of that, Anakin,” chides his Master, before leaning over him once again and spanking Obi-Wan.
It feels endless, an unstoppable back and forth of agony. Anakin cannot imagine his bottom feeling worse than it is right now, all while knowing that more pain is to come, and that Obi-Wan is getting it even worse. He sobs as smacks nine and ten land, feeling like this torment will forever be never-ending.
It does cross his mind that he might be overdramatizing the situation, as Master Qui-Gon tells him he is wont to do on occasion, but then Obi-Wan is sobbing too, and Anakin holds his older friend’s hand tighter, not for his own comfort, but to try and support him. Spanks eleven and twelve have him howling, and he lays, boneless across the couch, as Obi-Wan gets spanked some more.
When it is finally over, Obi-Wan cannot believe how much his bottom burns. It has been a while since his last encounter with his Master’s hairbrush, but still, a small piece of wood should not be the bearer of such agony. He feels like he’s been scorched by a blaster. Anakin is crying next to him, still holding onto his hand, and Obi-Wan gives him a squeeze, along with an encouraging twinge through the Force. They got through it.
Qui-Gon lets go of Obi-Wan’s hip, and steps around them, righting their underwear and trousers, which renews the sting of the brush while providing the small comfort of modesty – though whether modesty matters much anymore, Obi-Wan doesn’t know.
“Stand up when you are ready,” says Qui-Gon.
Obi-Wan gives Anakin a searching look, and the boy nods. Together, they rise, cheeks red, face sticky with tears – and maybe a bit of snot. Shuffling, they turn to face their Master.
Obi-Wan is feeling great difficulty in meeting his Master’s eye. Qui-Gon has indeed managed to punish them both equally, as far as Obi-Wan can tell, because he was brought to tears almost simultaneously to Anakin, which he did not think would happen.
Qui-Gon opens his arms.
Anakin needs no further prompting and hurls himself at his Master, burying his face in his chest, as Qui-Gon wraps an arm around him. The other arm stays open, inviting.
“Come, Obi-Wan. Do not let your pride take ahold of you again before you get a measure of comfort.”
Obi-Wan snorts wetly, and wipes his face with his sleeve before stepping up to his old Master and accepting the comfort he offers. He leans into Qui-Gon, face buried against his shoulder, one arm wrapped behind his back, the other finding Anakin’s shoulder. Anakin turns his head a bit to have it pressed against Obi-Wan as well, and they stay like that, held by their Master, for a long while.
“I do hope we will not have to repeat this lesson again, my Padawans,” says Qui-Gon softly, playing with Anakin’s braid.
“Never, Master! I’ll never try to deceive you again! I promise!” answers Anakin quickly.
His eyes are wide and his face earnest. Obi-Wan can’t help but chuckle.
“Be careful, Anakin,” he says ruefully. “I’ve made such promises before, and yet, here I am, sore and contrite.”
“I’m not like you, Master Obi-Wan,” Anakin frowns. “I won’t ever forget, because my bottom will sting forever.” He pushes off slightly to peer up at Qui-Gon, pouting. “You spanked us too hard, Master.”
Qui-Gon raises an eyebrow.
“I reckon I spanked you just as hard as was needed, Ani.”
Anakin wrinkles his nose, but recognizes that he shouldn’t push right now.
“Yes Master.”
“And if you do end up forgetting, do not worry. As Obi-Wan well knows, I will be by your side to guide you for as long as our fates are linked.”
Anakin groans and hides his face. Obi-Wan is well acquainted with the sensation: a mixture of mortification at the promise of probable future punishment, and the soft glowing warmth of feeling safe and supported. Feeling unbearable tenderness for his young friend, Obi-Wan pats at Anakin’s head, and leans against Master Qui-Gon, feeling a bit raw, and quite sore, but at peace.
THE END