tpm_flashback | Rushlight - With or Without Consent (10-19 rec)

Title: With or Without Consent
Authors: Rushlight
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan
Warnings: Noncon. (Feels a bit odd putting that behind a cut tag given the title...)
Author's e-mail, web site and/or LJ id:

rushlight75, and her website's here.
Link to story: http://www.masterapprentice.org/archive/w/with_without.html -- original
http://www.masterapprentice.org/archive/w/with_mirror.html -- mirror version
http://www.masterapprentice.org/archive/w/with_without3.html -- part 3, The Resolution

Reasons for recommending: This was one of the first stories I found in TPM fandom, and it's a three-part tale of Master-cannot-resist-Padawan. What makes it more than just a standard noncon PWP (is there such a beast?) is the twist of getting Obi-Wan's POV as well as the resolution in part 3. The smut is hot, the characterizations are pushed right to the edge of what we're willing to accept from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in order to make the story work, and we're given a believable resolution to the story in part 3. Mace Windu's guest role in part 3 is especially good; neither interloper nor villain, he's definitely got the strength of character we expect from Mace.

Quote from story:

A choice, then. He could either resist, defy his Master's wishes, give into the vicious, buried rage that lurked deep within him ... or he could give in. And as that one second drew out into a small eternity in his mind, he was struck by one very specific thought: his anger terrified him. It horrified him that he might be capable of such violent emotion, with all of the loss of control that it signified. To give in to the anger would, in some small way, be just as bad as giving in to Qui-Gon.

And so he made the choice that would give him at least a small measure of control over his own responses, the choice that would shelter him within the fragile framework of his own perceived autonomy. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to...

He submitted.

***

More: Noncon PWPs have a tendency to have little to no aftereffects. This one definitely doesn't fit that category; the initial event has many repercussions, involving Obi-Wan trying to take responsibility for what's happened to him, a consensual relationship, and, eventually, Obi-Wan's studies suffering and an intervention by Mace and Yoda. There's also back history between Qui-Gon and his master (at this point, we didn't know that Count Dooku was Qui-Gon's master, although I think the story would work just as well if not better if Dooku were the master in question). There's a strong thread of healing through the last part, forgiveness struggled with and reasons given for emotional responses. And while the ending may be a bit too neat and too healing, it's probably necessary for the happy ending to feel believable.