Masquerade 4: Guedeh La Flambeau

by Oncidium

Archive: M_A and my own site. Others please ask

Category: PWP, First time

Pairing: Qui/Obi

Rating: NC-17

Warnings:

Summary: Fourth in a PWP series. Sex and masks.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story do not belong to me; they belong to George Lucas. I just like to play with them and will try and return them in somewhat the condition in which they were found. No money was made.

Feedback: Is the icing on the cake for me :) (hellsmouth@sympatico.ca )

Notes: Thanks for helping me spank a very bad Obi!Muse, Master! He is now leaving Grimesey alone ever since he discovered the Ep 2 Obi- Doll comes in a crop top under his tunic...

Guedeh la Flambeau - This Guedeh is the instant of brilliant seduction experienced by a moth before its body joins with the flame it loves so much.

Obi-Wan could not keep his body from trembling in anticipation. During their stay on Vau'Karreh he had been witness to pleasures of all kinds and to such excess that it had made him feel bolder, bawdier, more sensual.

Sensual was hardly a word he usually associated with a Jedi Padawan. Life was usually so ascetic at the Jedi Temple, he could hardly recognise himself. It was too easy to forget who you were here and lose yourself to the planet's corporeal charms.

This evening had been like so many others on this planet: laughter, rich food and intoxicating beverages. What made it different was that Qui-Gon had joined him in the informality of the street, and, for once he got to openly bask in the ardour of the older man's affection for him. Something that they would never, no, could never do on Coruscant.

He stood near his Master to watch that evening's parade and the gaudy floats took on a beauty of their own to the young man, as he easily snatched the long strings of metallic beads, thrown by the boisterous krewes, out of the air and wound them around Qui-Gon's neck, earning him at the very least a smile and at the most a quick kiss to the inside of his wrist that caused his pulse to speed and the heavy evening air to seem even warmer.

He stood just behind the older man, his arms looped loosely around broad shoulders, where they sat, just outside the wrought iron fencing of one of the old garden, near their quarters, having their palms read by a large, smiling woman who went by the name of Madame Coco. He laughed lightly at Qui-Gon's weak protests to some of her predictions, assuring the woman that if all of this was indeed true he would have had some warning of it in his morning meditations and being summarily ignored.

Obi-Wan thought the evening was almost perfect as they watched a good- natured and ribald roast of partygoers by their friends and companions in one of the narrow streets. He rested his head against his Master's solid chest and his arm wound possessively around his trim waist while they watched the proceedings.

A frisson ran through his body when he thought again about how short their time would be on this planet. For them to explore the depth of this new relationship. Once they left, they would once again have to resume their station in the Jedi. In order to openly pursue such a relationship, they would have to forfeit their vows to the Jedi and leave the Order. This was something, he had to begrudgingly admit, neither one of them was ready to do.

When the young man that Obi-Wan had been lavishing attention on just a few nights ago took the stage, he called for a toast to the two Jedi. Obi-Wan, laughingly, pulled Qui-Go to the stage to receive their public ribbing, but all the young man did was produce two lacquered papier machée of burnished copper to be put on the Jedi.

At first, Obi-Wan laughed and waited for the joke to begin. The anger being barely contained behind his Master's shields caused him to look in the older man's direction. Even though his regal features were concealed behind a facade that obscured his expression and made his face even more unreadable than even during the most intense negotiations, the eyes that glared at Obi-Wan's friend had become cold, hard points of light. That was when Qui-Gon had slipped like a shadow into the crowd and Obi-Wan had not seen him since.

The night air shifted the white sheers in their quarters in slow billowing waves. The wooden floor creaked beneath his pacing footsteps. He had been so upset by Qui-Gon's disappearance that he had returned to their quarters, knowing the older man would have to return there eventually.

Several hours passed and still no word from Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan desperately wished he knew what had upset his mentor so badly and with equal fervour hoped it wasn't him.

He heard the door to their quarters open and close and felt the warmth of his Master's presence wash over him and he breathed a sigh of relief. The earlier anger was gone and Obi-Wan felt only affection and arousal through their bond. As the older man drew nearer, the heat grew more intense until Obi-Wan started to shift uncomfortably as the humid air started to feel dank and stifling.

The tall and powerfully built Jedi sent a soothing caress through their training bond, reassuring and calming the young man. Obi-Wan felt gentle hands cup the sides of his face and turn him to look into his Master's eyes. He felt the ghosts of Qui-Gon's warm, blunt fingers press into his face through the polished surface of the mask he had forgotten was still there. His Master still wore his mask also, so his expression was all but buried, only his eyes held the silent apology. Obi-Wan drew their faces together so the masks bumped against each other then scraped slightly as he lightly moved his face against that of his Master in a closed-lipped parody of a lover's kiss.

Obi-Wan pulled back slightly and sent a query to his Master through their training bond, asking him about his earlier reaction and disappearance. Without saying a word, Qui-Gon turned him to face the mirror at the end of the young man's bed and then stood slightly behind him.

Obi-Wan's eyes raked up the two reflected forms before him. He and his Master were similarly clad in loose leggings and wrapped in beads. His Master was taller and broader in the shoulder than he was, but nothing out of the ordinary and certainly nothing to cause offence. Then Obi-Wan's eyes shifted to their faces and his heart froze. The smooth, coppery masks that covered their usually dissimilar faces were exactly the same, expressionless, featureless, and androgynous.

Obi-Wan felt the sting of comprehension fill him when he realised that this was how people saw them: neutered facsimiles of their species. What was worse was the dawning truth that that was how they were. Serenity over passion… Peace over anger… Away from the confines of the Temple, these simple tenets had been thrown into a harsh light and exposed for what they were. Delusions to be placed over emotion, decoys to keep a barrier between the Jedi and the people they served

No matter what he did or ever tried to do, there would be a barrier there between him and those around him. A counterfeit of serenity that he wore as sure as the oval-eyed abomination on his face. Serenity was the way of the Jedi, but at what cost?

Qui-Gon shifted Obi-Wan back around to face him. The young man reluctantly met his gaze and felt the affection surround him. He drew his Master's body to his own and felt the heat of the older man's arousal pressing into his abdomen. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and started to grind his hips slowly against the solid form before him. He wanted to live in the moment and enjoy what his Master could offer him and swallow the bitterness inside him because he knew that it was all the older man was ever going to be able to offer him. It was an uphill battle he was afraid he would lose if he were offered more.

He sensed Qui-Gon's finger's scrape lightly against the slippery surface that separated him from the tender caress. Qui-Gon leaned in and nuzzled the cool, polished shell into Obi-Wan's neck, increasing the trembling in the young man. He gasped and arched as he battled the myriad of thoughts swam into his brain.

As Qui-Gon ran his polished, alien face down Obi-Wan's torso, the young Jedi gasped into his mask and he found its confines stifling. His breath trapped and kept too near to his face by the mask he wore. He was suffocating under it. He wanted to tear it away and breathe free, but something stayed his hand.

He panted and gasped for air under the unforgiving surface as he was thrown to the bed and deft fingers found the laces to his leggings and undid them. The maddening plane of his master's concealed face rubbed against his hardened shaft and he moaned and writhed underneath the satire of a lover's touch. The heat radiating from the body he loved so much was threatening to consume him hole, but the maddening barriers placed between he and his Master held him back. They impeded and stifled them, threatening to extinguish the flame that should never be, but stubbornly burned hotter than any star.

Obi-Wan obeyed without question as the maddeningly gentle touch guided him over to his belly and his gasp was muffled as the back of his leggings was yanked down and the cool air hit his naked buttocks.

He moaned in protest and he felt the weight of his Master's body shift away from him, but groaned as it came back, and something cool and slick was drizzled down his crevice, heating quickly against the flush of his skin. His groan turned into a moan as hot fingers prepared him and stretched him. Obi-Wan opened his eyes and looked into the reflection in the mirror. There he was, the perfect, passionless, expressionless Jedi being methodically prepared by his equally expressionless partner for what was meant to be the most intimate of joinings.

Was this all that was allowed to them? A methodical release of desire as opposed to making love? Obi-Wan wanted to rail against the unfairness of it, but all thought was momentarily driven from his mind as he felt his Master position himself behind him and breach his body.

The slow burn of the welcomed intrusion grounded Obi-Wan in the undeniable reality of the situation, even if the rest seemed like a dream to him. Something about being taken by this masquerade who wore Qui-Gon's Force signature was at once enthralling and devastating for the young man. He gasped and pressed back underneath the other man. He heard a muffled grunt from the man above him as he took him to the root and rested there.

Slowly, the body behind him started to move and Obi-Wan looked into the androgynous face in the mirror and sought out his Master's eyes. The indigo eyes that peered at him through the almond shaped holes cut into the mask's surface were filled with love and hope. He looked away again, unable to acknowledge the truth. He groaned low in his throat as the tempo picked up and the thrusting of the body behind his became more frenzied and desperate.

He cursed the barriers between them; always they would be like this. Intimate and separate. Together and alone. Master and apprentice. Never allowed to love one another the way they wanted to. He arched and gasped as the length that speared into him rubbed across the sensitive nub buried deep within his body and his Master's hand snaked underneath his hip to grasp the straining flesh there. This much he could allow but no more. For the first time, he was thankful for the masks that hid them from each other.

He knew in one terrible instant that if he had one taste more than this; if he saw the emotion on the older man's face as they bucked and twisted together in this primal rhythm, he would be lost. He would never be able to go back. He told himself it was better this way, this was allowed. Permissible. Acceptable. All of it hung on the balance of the barriers erected between them, the ones that should never be crossed. The ones it was forbidden to cross.

The relentless thrusting into his body and manipulation of his sensitive cock became like any other kata to him behind his disguise of borrowed serenity. He moaned and bucked and accepted the pleasure the body behind him was giving. He looked up again and this time saw that his Master had removed his mask and now it was Qui-Gon whole and complete who moved and drove within him. Their eyes locked again and Obi-Wan felt he was falling forward into a bright abyss and Qui- Gon's soul extended to him.

Obi-Wan rested his head against his arms and screwed his eyes shut, wiling the image out of his head. Perhaps they should be no more than drones exacting their roles. There was comfort to be had there. He had been taught from a young age that the impulse to possess and be possessed by another was wrong. A deadly trail that led to jealousy and anger. But still the light of Qui-Gon's spirit called to him and, entranced, he would always move toward it.

He jerked under his Master's weight, the length that filled him suddenly expanded as he felt the older man pour his very essence into his willing body. The mask Qui-Gon had worn, fell uselessly to the floor and a tongue traced the delicate shell of Obi-Wan's ear.

"I love you..." Barely a whisper against his sweat-dampened hair, he heard it and sobbed out loud as he came.

It would have been kinder if he had never known.