I'm back - first not seen in years and years, and then on your doorsteps every other day, begging for reviews! Mysterious, the ways of the Force are! Thank you for the kind welcome back! Here's a little bit more of Obi/Ani fluff that had been hiding on my laptop for all these years - hope you like it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new chapters (and, naturally, the old ones, too)!

So this is what it feels like

Living this life in color

Say bye to black and white

You let me change it over

No I see there's no going back, no

Finally I understand

What feeling's supposed to feel like

And when I got your hand

I've never been so high

All I need is all that you have

Your eyes are my sunrise here

Top of the World - Anthem Lights

Anakin taught Obi-Wan how to tinker.

Obi-Wan closed the door to his and Anakin's quarters behind him with an audible sigh. Mission debriefings could be tedious, and in particular so when the whole council still seemed to simmer with resentment towards him for his decision to train Anakin. In fact, the whole mission had been a tedious one, again ongoing treaty-signing and hand-shaking, and the very real feeling of being in detention due to misbehavior towards the council. All in all, he currently was just one thing – very, very glad to be home. Anakin still was in his lessons, after Obi-Wan had gently but firmly suggested to, this time, not antagonize his teachers by skipping lessons for welcoming Obi-Wan on the landing platform. His padawan wouldn't be home for another half an hour. That meant Obi-Wan had some time to wind down, finish the mission's paperwork, and enjoy a cup of his favorite tea.

The movements were second-nature to him, as tea had been a big part of his and Qui-Gon's life together already. The cup from the cabinet, the tea tin from the drawer, the water kettle on the sink, the water slowly starting to boil…wait…wait, what?

Obi-Wan's eyes widened in alarm as the water kettle emitted a high-pitched whistle and started to vibrate so heavily that it hobbled across the kitchen sink. What happened next only did not end in a casualty as Obi-Wan had twenty-five years of Jedi training to draw from – with lightning-fast reflexes he dived for the kitchen door and somersaulted into the hallway just as all hell broke loose. This was exactly the moment Anakin chose to spurt into their quarters, with a huge grin on his face that faltered slightly as he was met with the flying form of his master landing and re-gaining balance next to the shoe cabinet.

"Master…?" Big, cerulean eyes met each other, followed by a synchronized "What the Sith was THAT?"

"I don't know, I was only trying to make myself some tea." Obi-Wan flattened his ruffled hair and tunic and turned on heel to inspect the damage in the kitchen, closely followed by his apprentice, who skidded to a halt when seeing the room that had, seconds ago, been a quite homely kitchen.

"Wow!" breathed Anakin.

"Wow indeed, young Padawan", sighed Obi-Wan.

The water kettle had formidably exploded, spraying the whole kitchen with boiling water. While the kettle was still intact, the force of the explosion had pulled the wire, which was now dangling sadly from the socket, straight out of the kettle. It smelt of burned wires where the heat had been too much for the device. The lid had disintegrated under the spraying water, and the walls were pierced with tiny holes looking like scars from a mortar.

"And here I thought the dangerous part of being a Jedi were the missions, not the meagre task of boiling tea!", Obi-Wan grabbed a kitchen cloth and started mopping up the water threatening to seep through the wooden floor. "Good thing this scrapheap did not decide on blowing up when you were using it during the last week. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was one of Garen's jokes, but he's already on his way to Yuhan. Over there is a second cloth, could you…Padawan? What's the matter?"

Anakin was still standing by the door, biting his lip and shuffling his feet in a perfect picture of a guilty conscience. Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows as Anakin was visibly squirming under his gaze.

"Master? I might have…maybe…accidentally…tried to improve the efficiency of the water kettle? So that the water boils faster, so that you don't have to wait so long for your tea? That…really…worked out quite well, I guess…"

Suddenly, the boy flung himself forward around Obi-Wan's hip.

"I'm so, so, so sorry Master! It's just that I had already practiced all the katas you had shown me, and solved the puzzle you had left me, and even did some meditation exercises, and maybe I was a tiny bit bored, even though Jedi aren't bored, and then I saw the tea kettle, and I just wanted to know how it worked, and then, and then, but I never wanted for it to explode, and I am sorry and I didn't want to hurt you or ruin the kitchen and, and, please don't send me back to Tatooine!"

Anakin's voice had steadily gotten higher and higher over his sermon, almost comically mimicking the last utterances of the tea kettle, and at the last words, tears sprung from his eyes.

Obi-Wan immediately returned the hug. While he had needed his whole composure to not burst out laughing during Anakin's increasingly high-pitched confession, the signs of distress from his very young padawan were enough to sober him immediately.

"Oh dear…oh young one, calm down. No harm done, see? Still all in one piece, and none the worse for wear." He waggled his limbs and elicited a tiny, sniffling smile from Anakin.

"Padawan, I do believe you that you did not do this on purpose. And I am very grateful that you were brave enough to tell me this. It takes courage to admit a mistake. Please believe me that I would never even think about sending you away – you are stuck with me, get used to that. Just promise me you'll inform me in advance the next time any of my daily routines mutates into mortal danger."

At this, Anakin laughed, shakily and tearfully, and wiped his nose with his sleeve, before examining the sorry remnants of the water kettle.

"I think it is really broken, Master."

Obi-Wan smiled at this, a true, youthful smile, one of those that had been far and few in the last months and that drove away the lines of sorrow and tiredness prematurely etched into his face, as he was already unscrewing the lid on the bottom of the water kettle.

"That sounds just like the right challenge the two of us, Padawan – after all, I'd rather not let you get bored again any time soon. So now, tell me, how exactly did you re-fuse these wires?"