"Uh. Could you please repeat that?" Anakin Skywalker asked the R'hathak village elder.
"By opening the gate and bowing with a flourish, you proposed marriage to your fellow Jedi, and when he passed through, he accepted!" the elder said. "We are glad you chose to propose according to our traditions. It gives us joy to see them respected."
"We are delighted that you noticed and appreciated the gesture," Mace interjected before Anakin could put his foot in his mouth in his panic. "Though we could not find much beyond the proposal. Would you guide us in the nuptials?"
"Of course!" the elder replied, hopping on her feet. "Come, come! We shall start with the tea ceremony."
Anakin gave Mace a look of sheer panic. Mace tried to share some measure of serenity with him in the Force and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. There had been absolutely nothing on the R'hathak culture available to them; an accidental marriage proposal to another Jedi was far from the worst misstep he could've accidentally committed. Had he been here with a padawan, Mace might have tried to talk their way out of it, but the war effort depended on the R'hathak support and Anakin had never been his padawan.
"There is no need to worry, Anakin," Mace quietly said.
Anakin drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Right."
They were brought to a low hall. In R'hathak tradition, it was made of rough-hewn stone that had had seemingly random segments cut flat and polished to a mirror sheen. Locals were rearranging the wooden furniture in the center.
"I, Elder La'at Roh, bring you to this house of oaths," the elder said. "State each other's names."
"This is Knight Anakin Skywalker," Mace said, copying Roh's introduction.
"This is Jedi Master Mace Windu."
Roh clapped her hands. "The names are known."
A small table appeared in the middle of the room with a cushion on each side. A tiny pot of tea and two cups were brought to the table and cushions placed on the floor next to it. Mace and Anakin were shepherded to the cushions.
"State how much you want the other as you pour him tea," Roh said.
"I'm terrible at public speaking," Anakin hissed at her, panic sloughing off him again.
One of the other locals in attendance bent to whisper in his ear. He relaxed and thanked her.
Roh and the other R'hathak withdrew to the edges of the room, waiting expectantly. Mace took a deep breath and thought about Anakin Skywalker as he lifted the teapot. The R'hathak might not know Anakin's personality, but Mace did, and he wanted to be accurate. "Anakin," he said as he began pouring the tea. "You are bright and bold and your heart burns with justice. I want to spend my life with you." He set the pot down and waited.
Anakin eyed Mace, then the teapot. He took hold of it surprisingly decisively and started pouring. "Mace. You are articulate and upstanding, and, uh, I love you. I want to spend my life with you."
Mace's cup was just as full as Anakin's. Anakin set down the teapot and raised his own cup, giving Mace a charming smile and making eye contact through his lashes. It was no choice at all for Mace to smile as he raised his cup to the R'hathak's clapping.
The engagement confirmed, the wedding was set for two days' time. Mace did not see much of Anakin, who had been spirited off to handle wedding arrangements according to some local tradition. Instead, the elders, Roh included, kept him busy with discussion of the Republic. It was remarkably easy to convince them to sign the treaty, buoyed by the upcoming wedding that their spirits were.
Mace had resigned himself to not seeing Anakin until the wedding day when there was a knocking on his window. Before he could rise from bed, though, it opened and none other than Anakin Skywalker eeled in with assistance of the Force.
"Is something wrong?" Mace asked, having flashbacks to more than one of the Kenobi and Skywalker missions that had ended with explosions and hasty departures. Time had yet to tell whether that misfortune had been Obi-Wan's, Anakin's, or mutual.
"No, I just figured I should speak to you," Anakin said as he closed the window. He was still in his day wear while Mace was in his sleeping robes.
"Will the R'hathak be offended by your presence here?"
Anakin blushed and looked away. "I, uh, asked one of my helpers about premarital sex and she winked and said as long as I don't get caught, so, as long as I don't get caught."
That was an excellent way to get time alone. Mace said as much, making Anakin blush even more, then invited Anakin to sit on the bed. Anakin kicked off his boots and arranged himself in lotus position facing Mace – though staring at Mace's exposed calves rather than making eye contact.
"What's going to happen when we leave?" Anakin quietly asked.
Mace brushed over him with the Force. Tightly wound, anxious as was his wont, concerned for his future. "This is far from the most serious mishap that has happened to a Jedi on a mission, nor the first time someone has gotten accidentally married. Expect some ribbing from our friends. If there's a place that prefers to deal with married couples, we would be the first preference for any mission."
Anakin nodded. "Does this change anything?"
The mood of that question was slightly odd. "Our first allegiance will still be to the Jedi Order. We will keep to our duties, together and apart. Nothing needs to change." A frisson of disappointment from Anakin. "Do you want things to change?"
Anakin warred with himself. Eventually, one side won. "We're getting married," he said. "Shouldn't that change something?"
Mace had considered how the marriage would affect the R'hathak's opinion on the Republic, the limits of the oaths he could in good conscience swear, and his friends and colleagues' reaction, but he realized that the possibility that Anakin Skywalker might, in his heart of hearts, want to be in some sort of partnership with him had completely passed his mind. "What would you like for it to change?" he softly asked.
"I... haven't thought about it," Anakin lied.
Mace did not call him on it. "We can meditate on the matter on the way to Coruscant."
Anakin offered a quick smile, then shifted in place. "It, uh, might be suspicious if I go back to my rooms and it doesn't look like we fucked."
"There's a guard?" Mace did not have one, and no-one had mantioned guards, but-
Anakin waved a hand. "No, no guard, but, uh, I suspect at least one assistant will be awake and they're a pile of gossips who are much too invested in my sex life."
Mace also hadn't considered the possibility that Anakin Skywalker might wish to bed him, but apparently that was now the reality he lived in. Not that Mace was too upset – Anakin was, at twenty, younger than Mace preferred, but there was a certain charm to him, his smile was pleasing, and he'd begun to acquire some self-confidence. In another five to ten years, he'd be quite the catch. Now... "Do you wish to have sex with me?"
"Do you?"
There was a vulnerability to Anakin's expression Mace needed to meditate on. "I think we should wait for tomorrow," Mace said. Aware of Anakin's distaste for rejection, he reached out and pulled Anakin to his chest.
Anakin did not waste time worming into Mace's embrace and soon Mace had a Jedi Knight breathing onto his neck. His body heat radiated through Mace's thin sleeping robe.
Eventually, Anakin pulled away. "Good night," he said and slipped out into the night before Mace could respond.
Mace dreamed of Anakin: hair glowing in the sunlight, a cocky grin as he stepped out of a room, one of the truly miraculous happy landings he'd witnessed, when Anakin's ship had been shot into a sieve by the Separatists and he'd still managed to land without any casualties. He remembered the sheer power Anakin commanded in the Force and felt a shudder he could only call anticipatory run down his spine.
That morning, the R'hathak elders signed the treaty. In the afternoon, Mace was stolen away by a cadre of teenagers who insisted he make Anakin a flower crown. He chose some blue flowers to go with the color of Anakin's lightsaber, then threaded in some yellow and a few purple and orange blooms that looked like they might suit Anakin's coloration.
As there was some time before he had to be anywhere, he took the chance to meditate on the meadow. The Living Force hummed in contentment as flowers bloomed and everything grew towards its apex.
The actual wedding was held when the sun touched the tops of the tall trees. Mace carried the crown of flowers in his hands and waited for all the villagers to be seated.
When everyone was present, Roh rose. "Tonight is a night of celebration," she began, then gave a remarkably good speech about how R'hathak was willing to open its borders to a Republic base in the hopes that more people might choose to honor the R'hathak traditions as Mace and Anakin had. Finally, she sat down.
This was Mace and Anakin's cue to walk to each other. Mace felt Anakin's nerves in the Force, but mostly a fear of kriffing up rather than a desire to bolt.
"Anakin Skywalker," Mace said once they were standing in front of each other. "Do you accept this token of my love?"
"Let us become one," Anakin replied and bowed his head so Mace could place the flower crown on his head. It looked good against the sandy brown.
Then Anakin smiled, and Mace was struck with a vision of another Anakin, with hair long enough to curl at the ends and an equally soft smile. He blinked as the vision receded as fast as it had arrived.
"Mace Windu," Anakin said in a surprisingly soft voice. "Do you accept this token of my love?"
He held a flower crown, this one composed of all manner of purple and violet flowers. "Let us become one," Mace replied and bowed his head.
The stems scratched Mace's skin. Anakin's gloved hands brushed down Mace's temples.
Roh clapped once. "Let us rejoice this union," she declared, and by R'hathak tradition, Mace and Anakin were married.
As much as Mace might want to skip straight to the consummation, or even back to Coruscant, they had a wedding banquet to attend. And the R'hathak were very into insects.
A youth perhaps a few years older than Anakin brought a large multi-limbed insect of some sort to their table. "Cheers," Anakin said as he tore a leg off the carcass and offered it to Mace.
"Cheers," Mace replied and did his level best to ignore what he was eating as he ate it from Anakin's hand.
Dusk came and went before they could escape to their room for the night. Mace had eaten just enough that he wasn't hungry, then survived the rest of the evening by feeding Anakin by hand.
The bed was slightly softer than Mace would've preferred. He removed his shoes and put his cloak up to hang. Anakin was hovering awkwardly. "Would you like to take me to bed?" Mace asked.
Anakin's head snapped up and he actually licked his lips. "Yes. I would." He looked at his shoes. "Though, uh, I've never been with a man before."
"That will not be a problem," Mace reassured him. "If you'd come over here?"
Then he had his arms full of enthusiastic Knight and tumbled to the bed. Their efforts to undress each other were slightly hampered by kissing, and by the end, Mace came to the conclusion that if the first time was already like this, he'd definitely be doing this again. Ideally frequently.