Chapter Text
The overhead sun was hot as they beat their way through what could only be described as jungle and for a moment, Anakin allowed himself to admit that maybe Obi Wan had had a point about not traipsing through it in the middle of the day.
Only to himself of course. There didn’t seem to be any need to make any confessions out loud, especially when Obi Wan was already radiating a distinct sense of smugness into the Force. Anakin found that this smugness was rather out of place, especially given it was because of Anakin that they hadn’t burned to crisps as they atmosphere or smashed to pieces thanks to a crash landing.
They had been forced to land on this planet when their ship’s engine had overheated. They’d barely made a safe landing before it failed completely, and a quick inspection told Anakin that it would need at least forty-eight hours to cool down before they could even attempt a take-off.
Obi Wan had suggested that they just stay with the ship but something about that plan made Anakin feel restless. Sitting around for two days in the middle of nowhere didn’t really seem like a great way to pass the time. Not to mention that all they had left were ration bars and he really didn’t feel like eating nothing but highly processed calories for the next few days.
So here they were.
Anakin pushed another armful of shrubbery out of the way and tried not to wince as the movement drew his attention to the way his inner tunic clung to his underarms and the small of his back with sweat. Ugh. He felt absolutely disgusting.
He had a split second to feel relieved that they seemed to have finally found some sort of pathway to the village he could see in the distance before said path was impeded by a large group of people carrying what looked like rudimentary forms of blasters.
If that hadn’t been enough to make Anakin come to an abrupt halt, the realisation that they were speaking to each other in a language he understood all too well would have.
Huttese.
Something deep inside him seemed to squeeze in a combination of nostalgia and disgust the way it always did when he heard the coarse sounding syllables. Nostalgia because this was the language he spoke with his mother. Disgust because of, well, everything else.
‘I’ll handle this,’ Obi Wan muttered, stepping slightly in front of Anakin and before Anakin had a chance to explain why he really should be the one to do the introductions, said, ‘I apologise for interrupting the peace of your village. I’m Obi Wan Kenobi and this is Anakin Skywalker.’
‘It’s a pleasure,’ the woman at the front of the group said in Basic, stepping forward and holding out her hand. She shook both Obi Wan’s and Anakin’s and Anakin couldn’t help but feel like she’d lingered and given him a special smile when it was his turn.
He glanced around and noticed that the people were gazing at him, their expressions turning from ones of hostility to gentle delight as they took him in from head to toe. His breath caught in his throat as he noted the fond, encouraging smiles and he caught a few pointing at him.
Relax, Obi Wan sent through the Force. These would hardly the first people who have found you enticingly attractive.
You seem incredibly serene at the thought of other people ogling your mate, Anakin replied, feeling a weird combination of indignant and perplexed.
Pointing out when people were finding him attractive was something of a hobby for Obi Wan. If he was to believed, then this definitely was not the first time Anakin had caught the eye of virtual strangers. The problem was that Anakin wasn’t sure he believed him.
No one had ever openly said that they wanted him or that they thought he was anything special to look at. Well, except for Obi Wan, and Anakin had to admit that he quite liked that. All that ever happened was that he was offered drinks he didn’t really want, or strangers said weird things like I’d like to take a bath in those blue eyes which didn’t even make any kriffing sense. Anakin didn’t even notice anything until Obi Wan commented on it when they were safely back on their ship or behind closed doors and honestly, sometimes he thought it was just in his master’s head.
Except now, of course. Now he could feel their interest brushing up against him in the Force.
It made him feel a little self-conscious, especially when he shifted and his tunic clung to his skin. No doubt he smelled like a hot, sweaty Omega and he didn’t quite like the idea of them thinking of him in that way.
‘I’m Kirra,’ the woman said. ‘I am the leader of the Rivera people.’
She was also, Anakin noted, visibly pregnant. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, wondering vaguely what Obi Wan made of that while trying to ignore that everyone in the clearing seemed to be trying to catch his eye and that he could feel multiple unfamiliar Force signatures continually reaching out to him in his mind.
It was quite overwhelming and he had to resist the urge to step closer to Obi Wan. He might be an Omega but he still had his pride and he could handle himself in public.
Obi Wan cleared his throat. If he was hoping that this would switch the attention to him, he was sorely mistaken.
‘Our ship has overheated so we’re stranded here for the next two days. I was wondering if we may be fortunate enough to request your hospitality until we’re able to depart safely?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Kirra said, her gaze once again fixed on Anakin. Her eyes seemed to soften at the corners. ‘We couldn’t have your mate staying out here, exposed to the elements, now could we?’
Anakin felt a little uncomfortable at the way everyone in the clearing seemed to chuckle their agreement. Obi Wan didn’t seem to think anything was amiss though, so he reluctantly fell into step beside him.
‘How do you know Huttese?’ Obi Wan asked, as Kirra led the way down a steep hill towards the village.
Anakin startled a little at that; he hadn’t expected Obi Wan to notice and he quite liked that he had. He didn’t exactly have a lot of love for his heritage, but it still meant something that Obi Wan clearly remembered it and cared enough to enquire about how Kirra spoke the same language as he did.
Suddenly, he felt an unfamiliar hand against his upper arm.
‘Are you quite all right, dear?’ the woman asked him. ‘I know that Kirra intends to show you around the village, but if the walking is too much, we can show you directly to one of our guest huts and you can get some rest.’
Anakin was about to respond harshly that he was a Jedi and the idea of walking being too much for him was laughable when he sensed nothing but kindness and concern from her through the Force. He made him suddenly self-conscious about what his expression must have been doing a moment before for her to be this worried about him.
‘I’m fine,’ he said, uncomfortably aware that everyone – including Obi Wan – was looking at him curiously.
What’s that about? Obi Wan asked.
I have absolutely no idea, Master.
‘Huttese is Anakin’s first language,’ Obi Wan explained, after a pause and to Anakin’s annoyance. His Master never thought anything of sharing personal information with other people whereas Anakin was always more guarded. ‘But we haven’t heard it outside of the Outer Rim or beyond Tatooine really.’
Kirra nodded. ‘That’s not surprising. Our ancestors are from Tatooine. They escaped the oppressive regime there and set up a society on this planet and we’ve been living here ever since.’
‘I see,’ Obi Wan said, immediately following up with more questions about culture and language and other things that Anakin didn’t really feel like listening to.
He had the distinct impression that there was more going on here than Obi Wan realised. Everyone was far too pleased to see him, too eager to want to be close to him. His skin felt like it was crawling from the number of eyes he felt fixed on his body and he hated it.
‘How have you been feeling?’ another woman asked kindly.
Anakin wasn’t quite sure what to say.
Unnerved?
Irritated?
Watched?
All of those things sounded like something Obi Wan would describe as “rude and ungracious”.
Anakin glanced at his Master, hoping for a lifeline, but of course Obi Wan was deep in conversation about the history of the society and was apparently too absorbed to notice anything else.
‘I said I’m fine,’ he replied, perhaps a little snippily. How many times did he have to say it before these people left him alone?
‘Have some water,’ one of the men said, pressing a canteen into Anakin’s hands. ‘It’s hot out here and you need to keep your fluids up.’
Anakin held the canteen as he walked, suddenly wondering what he must look like if they were this worried about him. Obi Wan hadn’t said anything so surely things couldn’t be too bad, could they?
Or was he just making too much of this? Was this how the Rivera people showed hospitality to their guests and Anakin was just being paranoid. He waited hopefully, but no one made the same offer of water to Obi Wan.
So it was just him then.
*
‘You do realise they think I’m a helpless Omega?’ Anakin hissed, as soon as the Rivera people had shown them to a small hut that would be theirs while they stayed in the village.
Obi Wan looked at him in surprise. ‘And what makes you jump to that conclusion?’
‘I’m not jumping to anything,’ Anakin snapped, pacing up and down the small space, feeling his cloak swishing behind him.
He’d had a lot of time to think as Kirra had given them a tour of the village. It was comprised of hundreds of huts, just like the one they were in, of various sizes. Each one was round in shape and had a pointed roof. They weren’t unlike the ones he’d seem on Tatooine with the exception that they weren’t horrible and everyone seemed to have enough space to themselves.
As they were shown around, more and more people seemed to flock to Anakin’s side, apparently as thrilled at the sight of him as the original group. He found their attention invasive and unwelcome and it made him feel brittle and irritable.
‘You didn’t notice how worried they were at the idea of me being out in the elements? Not you, Master, just me. Because they think that as some big Alpha, you can handle yourself whereas I’ll probably fall apart if I don’t have a decent bed for the night.’
‘I don’t think that’s why they were concerned,’ Obi Wan said, arching a knowing eyebrow.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Obi Wan arched an eyebrow. ‘Do you really not know?’
Anakin stared at him for a moment. ‘No.’
He could feel Obi Wan’s exasperation through the Force.
‘Really dear one,’ he said. ‘I sometimes wonder if you notice anything at all. Were you not listening when Kirra explained that Omegas on this planet are rare? It’s like I said in the clearing: these people are clearly captivated by the sight of you.’
Anakin could have snarled at him.
‘Yeah, well,’ he said. ‘I think they’ll find I’m not your typical Omega.’
Obi Wan let out a half-amused, half-exasperated noise. ‘I’m guessing Kirra isn’t either, given that she’s the leader of their community. Who knows? Maybe these people have far more progressive views about designations than those on Coruscant. You should give them a chance, darling. We are only here for two days after all.’
Anakin folded him arms over his chest and tried not to look too sulky about that.
'Dear one,' Obi Wan said, with a tone that would have been appropriate if he was approaching an agitated bantha. 'You don't think that maybe all of this tension could be because Kirra is pregnant and, well -'
'No,' Anakin snapped, sensing Obi Wan's next words before he said them and determined that they were not going to have this particular conversation.
'It would be completely understandable if it was,' Obi Wan said, looking at Anakin with pleading eyes that almost - almost - made Anakin feel guilty for shutting him down. 'I was thinking that maybe we could talk about it?'
Rather than dignifying any of that with a response, Anakin turned his back on him and stormed into the fresher. He paced up and down trying to work off his frustrated, anxious energy before coming to a stop with his hands clenched around the edge of the vanity.
His feelings were not because of what Obi Wan was not-so-subtly alluding to. Whatever this was, it had nothing to do with Kirra. But as he glanced anxiously at his reflection in the mirror, a new worry hitting him.
Could it be that his heat was approaching? He had heard that there were many societies where people were more sensitive to hormonal fluctuations in others than they were on Coruscant.
Sensing an impending heat would certainly explain everyone’s interest in him. The Omegas because they’d want to help gentle him through it and the Alphas because – well. Because they’d want to help him through it.
The thing was, Anakin couldn’t really afford to go into heat now. Obi Wan wouldn’t be able to fly the ship by himself and Anakin did not want to be stuck on some foreign planet while he went through something so messy and personal.
He wished he could know if his heat was due, but that had never been a possibility for him. His heats were so irregular that they almost always caught him by surprise. Furtively, he slid two fingers inside his underwear, feeling relieved when they came out dry. He wasn’t producing slick yet which meant even if his heat was coming, he still had time.
With a deep sigh, Anakin thought desperately that two days on this planet was going to be more than enough.
*
‘Everyone is staring,’ Anakin said under his breath as they walked into the banquet hall.
‘Given that the suggestion it is because you are an Omega offends you, may I go back to my original thought?’ Obi Wan asked mildly. ‘Perhaps they merely find you very attractive.’
‘What, all of them?’ Anakin asked, feeling a little taken aback. ‘You’re not right,’ he added, remembering something important. ‘Some of the ones staring are Omegas, I can sense it. Which also suggests your “Omegas are revered here” theory is wrong too because why would they be captivated by me?’
‘They may be Omegas but they still have eyes, dear one.’ Obi Wan chuckled. ‘And as for it being all of them, well, there are a lot of your good looks to go around. I think this is merely a case of them not wanting a beautiful person who had graced their present to be anything less than comfortable.’ He tilted his head to the side. ‘There could also be an element of them wanting you nearby too, I suppose. I don’t think it’s purely out of the goodness of their hearts that they’ve invited us to their banquet this evening. They want to see you, darling.’
As flattering as that was – and Anakin felt himself glow from within at the praise and the endearment – somehow he felt that whatever this was went beyond mere attraction. These people seemed excitement to see him, they wanted to be both physically and mentally close to him. It felt like something more was going on here.
Not wanting Obi Wan to see just how pleased his compliment made him, Anakin turned away and occupied himself with reaching for a drink from a roaming waiter.
‘Not that one,’ the man said, quickly handing Anakin one of the glasses filled with fizzy orange liquid rather than the red and creamy one he’d been reaching for. ‘These are better – they don’t have any alcohol.’
Anakin had to stop himself from clenching his mechno-hand hard enough to make the glass shatter.
‘I’m old enough to drink,’ he said.
Obi Wan rested his hand gently on his shoulder. ‘But you don’t like it, dear one. Remember that? You also don’t handle it well and I’d prefer not to have to carry you back to our hut tonight.’
There was a hint of amusement on Obi Wan’s voice that Anakin didn’t really appreciate. No, he didn’t enjoy the taste of alcohol and on the few occasions where he’d drunk some, he’d ended up utterly trashed embarrassingly quickly. But that didn’t mean he wanted other people telling him what to drink.
And, more to the point, how would the waiter know that Anakin didn’t like it?
He has the Force, Obi Wan reminded him gently. He can sense it.
I’m pretty sure that’s not how the Force works, Master, Anakin replied.
The vaguely unsettled feeling he’d had since everyone on this planet had started seeming captivated by his very presence intensified. It felt like more was going on here than he realised and something about that made him nervous. He subtly tried to sniff himself but either he wasn't successful or he simply didn't smell of pre-heat. He supposed that was something, at least.
He reached out to the Force, searching the feelings and intent of those around him, but he didn’t feel anything untoward. On the contrary, everyone merely seemed happy and excited to be here. No – they were happy and excited that he was here.
More to give himself something to do than because he really wanted any, Anakin took a sip of the drink as he and Obi Wan were guided to a table. The drink was delicious which was irritating since it had been basically forced upon him.
‘How long have you two been mated?’ the woman sitting opposite Obi Wan asked kindly.
Anakin glanced from her to Obi Wan, wondering how she knew that they were. Obi Wan had been careful to bite him low enough on his neck that his Jedi robes covered up the mark and they hadn’t been particularly affectionate with each other since they’d arrived here.
‘Just over a year,’ Obi Wan said, lightly resting his hand against Anakin’s lower back and thanking the waiters as they placed plates of food down in front of them.
‘That’s nice,’ she said with a fond smile. ‘You two must be very happy.’
Anakin did allow his expression to soften at that, because she was right. They were. Getting to be with Obi Wan was everything he’d ever wanted since he was fourteen years old. He’d told him so too, only to have Obi Wan assure him that his feelings would pass and he would one day fall for a far more appropriate mate.
It had taken two years of shameless, determined effort for Obi Wan to even admit that there could maybe one day be something between them and then he’d been forced to endure another two year wait until he’d turned eighteen before Obi Wan would even so much as kiss him on the lips. Obi Wan had courted him for a year and Anakin was – utterly against his will – still a virgin at their mating ceremony.
Just. Obi Wan had to bring it forward from the planned date because Anakin knew he’d been about to cave. His principles were strong, but not quite Anakin-proof, after all.
He liked to think that they’d made up for lost time afterwards though.
‘It’s a pleasure to have you here with us,’ the man sitting beside Anakin said, with a kind smile. ‘You really should eat something.’
With a disconcerting squeeze in his chest, Anakin realised he was speaking exclusively to him while looking worriedly at his still full plate. Obi Wan looked from one to the other, his eyebrow slightly arched.
‘Oh,’ Anakin said. ‘I will.’
The man waited with an air that he wasn’t going to leave, so Anakin quickly scooped up vegetables and put them in his mouth. They were sweet and crisp and he felt immediately better for having done so. It was only then that he realised he hadn’t eaten since before they’d crashed their ship that morning.
‘Try the meat as well,’ the woman chimed in. ‘You could use the protein.’
Anakin chewed his mouthful slowly, preferring not to have to continue eating under such interested scrutiny. As if sensing that – maybe he’d projected some of it into the Force – the man and the woman moved away, although Anakin could still feel the weight of their gazes on him.
‘Hear that, dear one?’ Obi Wan asked, a smirk playing around his lips. ‘These people seem to think you’re malnourished.’
‘What I heard is that they don’t care whether you starve to death,’ Anakin replied sweetly. He took another sip of his drink before trying some of the meat. It was delicious, but that still didn’t explain why these people were so determined that he needed to eat it.
He was beginning to wish he’d listened to Obi Wan and just stayed with the stupid ship.
‘I want to go back to our hut,’ Anakin muttered as soon as Obi Wan had finished the last mouthful of food on his plate. ‘Now.’
‘Fine. But go and say goodnight to Kirra first. Anakin,’ he added, when Anakin merely glared at him. ‘We are her guests here. Need I remind you of what might happen if we offend her?’
There was too much truth in that to ignore, so Anakin forced himself to his feet and trudged over to the head of a table where Kirra was sitting. Her eyes lit up when she saw him.
Force, this was going to be a long two days.
‘Obi Wan and I are going to retire for the evening,’ he said. ‘But we are looking forward to you showing us around your planet tomorrow.’ Then he figured he may as well be nice, since he was already over here. Obi Wan would no doubt be impressed with his up-until-now unseen diplomatic skills. ‘And I didn’t get a chance to say it before but congratulations. It must be amazing to be carrying a child.’
He couldn’t help but sound a little wistful as he gazed at her gently rounded belly and the bond he could already sense between her and the baby.
She looked at him in surprise.
‘Thank you, it is. But of course, you already know that.' She reached out and touched his stomach. ‘You’re carrying one too.’