The Complete Picture

by Merry Amelie (MerryAmelie@aol.com)

Archive: MA only

Category: Alternate Reality, Qui/Obi, Romance, Series

Rating: PG

Summary: A 'double exposure' of The True Picture

Series: Academic Arcadia -- # 73
A chronological list of the series with the URLs can be found under the header 'Academic Arcadia' at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/master-apprentice/files/
My MA story page: http://www.masterapprentice.org/cgi-bin/qs.cgi?keyword=Merry+Amelie

Feedback: Is treasured at MerryAmelie@aol.com Disclaimer: Mr. Lucas owns everything Star Wars. I'm not making any money.

To Alex, Ula, and Nerowill, my friends and betas extraordinaire

Many thanks to Barbara for her "They were always meant to be together" comment on The True Picture, one of the radiant truths of our fandom, which I used in this story.

Quinn couldn't help but smile as he looked through every page of the old album Jo had given him. There were many more photographs here to enjoy than he'd seen on the corkboard in Ian's Paduan bedroom. Each one was sweeter than the last.

Quinn could see her librarian's touch in the organization of pictures by date. Baby Ian crawled towards Jo's open arms over the hearth rug that Quinn and Ian had cuddled up on when the rest of the family was away. Toddler Ian wobbled through the backyard with Monty holding his arm. His ginger curls looked like they'd yet to be cut for the first time. Preschooler Ian tooled around the driveway on his tricycle, a jaunty grin on his little face. Seven-year-old Ian pushed a button on the model of R2-D2 in his hand as he sat with his dad at the worktable in the garage. Teen Ian looked up from the books on his desk with a smile. Sophomore Ian slouched against the side of the bed with the album cover of Ziggy Stardust resting on his knees. Graduate Ian tucked his tassel behind his ear, fingers playing with the fringe.

Quinn was nearly distracted from his original objective by these priceless pictures. He knew he'd seen Ian in a Hallowe'en costume which would be perfect for digital manipulation with one of his own. He wanted to surprise Ian with it, to thank him for saving Quinn's X-wing print.

When he'd seen his dressed-up little Ian a few months ago, Quinn remembered being pleasantly surprised that they'd been the same age when the photos were taken, as if they were always meant to be together.

Here it was. Quinn gazed in delight at a wee Obi-Wan Kenobi, standing in front of the tire swing in his backyard. Chocolate robes swam on his eight-year-old shoulders. But the spartan outfit looked just right on him, despite its size. Adorable white whiskers adorned his face, slightly askew. He grinned cockily as he waved a blue plastic lightsaber at the camera.

Quinn took the picture from the page by a corner and put it on his desk. Opening the bottom drawer, he got out the photo he'd taken from one of his mother's albums in anticipation of his gift to Ian. He chuckled when he saw himself as Luke Skywalker, parading in front of his bedroom window. His hair had been so fair that he hadn't needed the hairpiece that came with the costume. The Jedi homespun looked right on him too, his inner ascetic visible even at the tender age of eight, expression schooled into precocious maturity. Despite the asceticism, he brandished his own blue lightsaber with glee.

Now to unite the two. He wanted to capture them together, down to the last pixel. Quinn fired up his laptop and started the labor-intensive process of digital manipulation. He scanned the images into his computer, removing a faint stain on Ian's chin, the better to see the developing cleft. He also smoothed over the minute cracks that came with age. Since the prints were rather large, they yielded a lot of detail. He placed the boys shoulder to shoulder in their Jedi kit, discovering in the process that he was taller than Ian even at age eight. Somehow that felt right.

Ian hadn't bothered with Obi-Wan's 'hermit hair' because his own was mostly covered by the hood, but a few errant copper curls drifted in the October breeze. Quinn's dirty blond hair was shorter; he remembered his mother combing it right before the picture.

Quinn decided to put Ian on his left because it angled their heads as though they were gazing at each other. He was stunned by the results -- it actually looked like the two of them had been trick-or-treating together on that long ago Hallowe'en evening.

Quinn lovingly placed the photo in Ian's drawer, right on top of the one he had rescued from the trash, knowing that Ian would open it as soon as he sat down to work.

Sure enough, Quinn heard a shout of delight just a few hours later, minutes after Ian had returned from the library. Ian came rushing into the den, Quinn's gift in hand.

"Oh, Quinn! I love it! Thank you." Ian put the picture carefully on Quinn's desk before he bent down to kiss Quinn. "It looks like we were really together on Hallowe'en, even though those photos were taken, what, seven years apart?"

Quinn nodded, placing his forehead in prime kissing position. "I remembered your mom pointing it out to me when she brought over the album, and I knew I had one of about the same vintage. Don't we look dashing together?" Quinn got up to take Ian in his arms.

"Mmm-hmm. Ready to run off to the next adventure. Gotta save the galaxy before demolishing the candy corn, y'know." The kiss Ian gave him was all treat and no trick.

Luckily, their grown-up adventures were every bit as exciting, Quinn thought. Make that more exciting, he amended, when Ian led them off to the bedroom.

Much later, a still-flushed Ian padded into his office to put the picture in a double lucite frame, right across from the one Yodama had taken of them when they'd grown into their gi.