What if Obi-Wan and Cody are college-era boyfriends and then life and everything gets in the way, they split friendly but with a couple of regrets each.
Cody goes on to be a firefighter.
Obi-Wan kind of works himself into an exhaustion breakdown.
And then switches majors.
And goes into librarianship.
Cue Rex who is a cop, who goes at his shop and flirts and they start seeing each other.
But then stuff happens with Obi-Wan’s family.
And they are still early enough in the relationship that it’s kind of awkward.
Rex doesn’t want to intrude, Obi-Wan isn’t ready to introduce Rex yet to his family because they are not that level of serious yet.
Like they are into each other, they went on a few dates, the sex is great.
But dealing with the aftermath of Qui-Gon’s death and Obi-Wan adopting Qui-Gon’s ward?
That’s kind of a lot to deal with.
And I am sure Rex is the kind of man who would try but it’s kind of a mess of a situation.
So they peter off and then agree to break up though, again, with a couple of regrets each.
Cody and Rex meet.
They get together.
They date.
They get engaged.
They get married.
Cue sometime later, the two of them going to a new book shop who also doubles as a coffee shop.
And behind the counter, here’s Obi-Wan.
Who’d very happily just go die in the back.
YOU CAN’T JUST STOP THERE!!!!
WHERE’S THE REST OF IT?!!!
I AM AGREEING WHERE IS THE REST OF IT
OH MY GOD YOU CAN’T JUST STOP
That’s as far as a I got in the chat where I
was detailing this, before my attention got derailed :p
So what I was envisioning is that Obi-Wan is
positively dying to disappear because oh hey, look, it’s the two guys he never
fully got over coming in together because, yeah, they’re married now.
(Obi-Wan kind of disappeared in time, because
he removed himself from Cody and Rex’s lives, but he kinda also kept tabs on
how they were doing because when he cares, he cares.)
(Rex might or might not have Obi-Wan’s name
flagged in the system to alert him if anything happens to Obi-Wan and Cody
still meets Obi-Wan’s mother Tahl at least once every three months for coffee
and while she doesn’t dish on Obi-Wan’s private life she has promised to tell him if anything serious happens, so yeah).
Obi-Wan doesn’t know it, but this was all Tahl’s
idea, by the way.
She changed her usual meeting place with Cody
to Obi-Wan’s new shop, because Tahl has met Rex (Cody’s husband, of course she met the man) and she recognized
him as the man from the photos on Obi-Wan’s phone that Anakin was so jealous
of.
(Anakin was a nine years old adopted kid who
just lost his stepfather and whose stepmother was in the hospital with
life-threatening injuries, so he latched onto his big brother with the force of
a thousand suns and hated Rex on principle, which made the situation between
Obi-Wan and Rex even harder at the time).
Tahl, you should know, is a meddler who feels her son should be
happy and who is reasonably sure, knowing Cody and having gotten to know Rex
well enough in the course of the four years he and Cody have been married, that
they are the kind of men who might not mind a third.
Though if she’s wrong and Obi-Wan gets involved
and then hurt, she will destroy them
and spend the rest of her life atoning for bringing them back in Obi-Wan’s
life.
(Spoiler alert: she’s not wrong, Tahl is a
really good judge of character and she made as sure as she could be, without
actually touching the argument in any way, that Cody and Rex might be open to
the idea).
But let’s go back to Obi-Wan, who has grown a
beard since Cody last saw him, and has turned even more unironically hipster since Rex saw him last, and looks like he
could use a good night’s sleep and possibly some comfort food and relaxing
company.
Cody is immediately sure Obi-Wan is still
hanging around that hooligan Vos, whom he used to be high school boyfriends
with and had casual hook ups with before Cody came into the picture and who
left a really bad impression on straightlaced, serious Cody.
Rex is immediately sure Obi-Wan is still
hanging around that terrible person Ventress, whom Obi-Wan worked with at the
library he was employed at and was somewhere between flirting buddies and
who-the-fuck-knows with and who left a really bad impression on unamused,
possessive Rex.
(Obi-Wan is still hanging around both Vos and
Ventress, who get along like a house on fire and might or might have not ended
up set a house on fire at some point, no one is admitting anything, during a
vacation that has many lengthy gaps every time it gets recounted).
(Vos and Ventress might or might have not
gotten married in Las Vegas during that trip. Obi-Wan has forgotten about 99,9%
of what happened in Las Vegas on that trip. He doesn’t want to remember what
happened in Las Vegas on that trip. Vos says yes, Ventress says no unless it’s
one of those days when Ventress says yes and Vos says no, because they are
utter assholes who love to frustrate Obi-Wan and who make sure their versions
never align).
Cody and Rex are both immediately sure Obi-Wan
is not taking good enough care of himself and what the hell is up with you
Kenobi, you were supposed to be a professor / a librarian why are you now the
owner of a book shop that doubles as a coffee shop?
Cody and Rex do. not. approve. of this state of things and start immediately to think about how to tell the other about Obi-Wan and why that idiot might have to end up coming for dinner at their place.
Tahl smugly sits at her table, with a perfect view of all three of them.
OH MY GOD!
*dying whale noises*
THIS IS PERFECT I LOVE ALL OF IT! Tahl, you perfect, meddlesome human being you!
WHAT MUST A DO FOR MORE? BEG? I CAN DO THAT!
So Obi-Wan was born Obi-Wan and remained
Obi-Wan through college, until he got into some problems in finding job as ‘Obi-Wan
Jinn’ so he did his paperwork and changed his name to Ewan Kenobi (Tahl’s
maiden name is Kenobi, though she still to this day, goes by Tahl Jinn).
These days he’s compromised to changing his
name, again with all the needed paperwork to make it legal, to Obi-Wan Jinn-Kenobi.
So Cody and Rex don’t know that Cody’s “Obi-Wan
Jinn” college boyfriend and Rex’s “Ewan Kenobi” brief acquaintance slash
boyfriend are the same person.
(They did talk about their exes, among
other things, so they actually do know
about Obi-Wan, they just didn’t realize he was the same person.)
(Especially because in college Obi-Wan was very
grunge / artistic as a style, except when he needed to clean up for tests, with
short hair and a long braid and clean shaven. After college Obi-Wan grew a
beard, got himself tattooed and basically emerged from the chrysalis of grunge
into the unironic hipster phase that Rex met him into so even the few photos Cody
has of him / of him-and-Cody-together are of a far different man than the one
Rex met).
(Also, the photos Cody took were with 90s
disposable cameras, so the quality is sometimes so-so, and Rex and Obi-Wan were
together before cellphones with cameras were a thing, so there are no photos of
the two of them together).
Timeline as far as I’ve figured it out is :
–
Rex&Cody
walk in Obi-Wan’s shop in 2016
(Cody is 47, Rex is 46, Obi-Wan is
45)
–
Quinlan,
Asajj and Obi-Wan go on the Cross Country Trip Of Doom in 2013 to celebrate
Anakin turning 18 and heading off to college.
(All three of them were 42)
–
Rex&Cody
have been married since 2012
(Cody was 45, Rex was 42)
–
Rex&Cody
were engaged from 2010 to 2012
(Cody was 43, Rex was 40)
–
Rex&Cody
met in 2007
(Cody was 40, Rex was 37)
–
Rex&Obi-Wan
split in 2004 after three dates (pre-accident) and four more (post-accident)
(Rex was 34, Obi-Wan was 33)
–
Cody&Obi-Wan
were together from 1991 to 1995
(Cody was 22, Obi-Wan was 20 when
the relationship started | Cody was 26, Obi-Wan was 24 when the relationship
ended)
Obi-Wan was born in 1971 (31 March), Rex was
born in 1970 (26 December), Cody was born in 1969 (26 December too).
So Cody and Rex sits down with Tahl, say hello
and then Cody turns to Rex to tell him about how the one behind the counter
(who is edging towards the back) is his ex Obi-Wan at the same time as Rex
turns to tell Cody about how the one behind the counter (who is squirreling
towards the back) is his ex Ewan.
There’s a bit of confusion going on because ‘look
I know him and his name is Ewan’ and ‘no you’ve got it wrong, that’s Obi-Wan
and this is his mother right there’, at which point Tahl informs them that the
man behind the counter is indeed her son and that he was raised Obi-Wan,
changed his name at Ewan for work-related reasons and is now going once more by
Obi-Wan.
The lightning bulb of “we share a common
ex-boyfriend and we don’t regret ending things with him, because we both had
good reason to, and we both also kind of consider him as ‘the one who got away’”
goes off.
By the time they turn to the counter again,
Obi-Wan is gone.
Anakin is there, glowering at Rex as he takes
orders and including Cody in the glower for good measure.
Tahl might be giggling.
*I’m* giggling! This is great! Can I ask what his tattoo is? (Since you’ve got me on a tattoo jag.)
Made post about the tattoos that you can find here.
Grandfather Dooku doesn’t approve of his
nephews tattoos.
Grandfather Dooku didn’t approve of Cody either.
Great-grandfather Yoda (also known as “the-one-who-might-just-outlive-us-all”)
thought it was all (Obi-Wan dating a Maori, Obi-Wan having no intention of
having not-adopted children, Obi-Wan tattooing the hell out of himself, Dooku
blowing a gasket over his son and grandson’s life choices) very hilarious.
Dooku is scottish nobility, so Obi-Wan has Scottish
blood from his father’s side.
Great-grandfather Yoda is actually from Tahl’s
side of the family and I think he came from Hong Kong when he was very young
and ended up surviving all of his children.
He was one of Dooku’s teachers in college and
that’s because of that connection that Qui-Gon and Tahl met at all, when they
were teenagers and at faculty gatherings (Yoda took custody of Tahl when her
parents decided to go back to Hong Kong and she wanted to stay in the States),
the kind where you bring your family along to suffer.
(Dooku is a professor with tenure at college,
Yoda should have retired eons ago but no one dares to oust the old troll and he’s
actually famous enough that the college kinda wants to keep him on as much as
it’s possible).
(Tahl and Qui-Gon were high school sweethearts
turned couple turned married couple by the time they were twenty-five.)
But back to the story!
Obi-Wan hides in the back with Anakin’s
apprentice baker Ahsoka.
(Anakin went to college to study mechanics,
fell hopelessly in love with older law student Padme, decided to keep doing
mechanics but with a minor in law, only to be screwed over and used in some
faculty scheme by Head of Law Department Palpatine, an old acquaintance of
Anakin’s great-grandfather Dooku. Following that he completely dropped out of
college and just went through a depressive self-destructive phase that scared
the living hell out of Obi-Wan).
(Between Tahl and Obi-Wan and Padme, they got
Anakin back on his feet and pushed him to turn his habit of stress baking into
something more productive and Anakin is like 90% of the reason why Obi-Wan’s
book shop doubles as a coffee shop).
(Anakin is tattooed and pierced as fuck
nowadays, dresses in leather or plaid pants with cotton t-shirts and wears
eyeliner which makes him a complete contrast to Padme’s flawless professional
or high end style. They are engaged and very happy together).
Anyway, Obi-Wan hides in the back with Anakin’s
apprentice baker Ahsoka.
He knows it wasn’t the smoothest move on his
part but he couldn’t think of anything else and Anakin basically seized his arm
and told him to stay there while he
took care of the front.
(One of the very few things Anakin and
great-grandfather Dooku agree on is that Obi-Wan has shitty taste in boyfriends).
Ahsoka is kinda confused as to what’s going on,
but she gets a glass of milk for Obi-Wan and puts a package of cookies in front
of him because he looks like he needs both.
Obi-Wan is really not sure of what he should
do, because he hadn’t planned on being face to face with Cody and Rex anytime
soon (or ever), especially not since they got married. They have their own
lives, it’s not for Obi-Wan to interfere.
Obi-Wan might or not might make a half-dive for
the pantry when he hears Cody’s unmistakable low growl of a voice very politely
ask Anakin if he can tell Obi-Wan that there are couple of friends outside waiting
for him. If he did, well. Ahsoka had her back at him and couldn’t see.
Anakin sounds especially snippy and
uncooperative when he says that Obi-Wan is busy and that if Cody is a friend,
he’s not a friend Anakin has ever heard of.
Obi-Wan realizes he has to go back outside,
before this snowballs further and Anakin moves from that to outright hostile
and protective.
(2/?) as soon as they’re alone they hug it out. And none of that “bro hug” shit like this is real hugging. And imagine tiny thirteen y/o Obi-Wan staring up at them like “when do I get my hug????” Dooku teaches Obi-Wan some of his lightsaber techniques and Qui-Gon is kind of really pleased to see his master teaching his Padawan. And like Dooku pulls the “lets kid eat sugar and stay up late when their parent says not to” bc fuck the rules.
***
Now I can’t help but imagine Dooku hearing about Naboo, hearing that Qui-Gon had been critically injured.
Dooku is a man very conscious of his image, but he would abandon that in an instant to dash like a madman straight to the Hall of Healing. Nobody has ever seen him move that fast except in battle, and certainly not with a such a terrified expression.
And then he sees that Qui-Gon is there. Hurt and swathed in bandages and barely able to stand, but still there. Still alive.
Although they both would have preferred it, Anakin and Obi-Wan are off on missions assigned by the Temple. They can’t stand vigil over Qui-Gon’s bedside.
So there you have Dooku, prim, regal Dooku, lathered in sweat and on the verge of tears, and Qui-Gon looks up at him, dips his head, and says, “Master.”
It’s one small word, but it opens up all the old memories Dooku has. Of choosing Qui-Gon as his apprentice, of training the headstrong Padawan into Knighthood, of watching him become a respected Master in his own right.
And it breaks him.
He’s fully aware that Jedi don’t form attachments. That Jedi don’t love. And maybe to spare himself the shame, he calls them something different in his mind. Maybe he just doesn’t give the feelings any name, and simply crushes his former Padawan into a hug the likes of which no one else would ever receive.
And if he happened to finally let a few of those tears soak into Qui-Gon’s hospital tunic, Qui-Gon would certainly never tell.
*clenches teeth* Arghhh these feels.
I was highkey waiting for Dooku to come to the halls and find Qui-Gon barely alive but alive and Obi-Wan sitting in the chair beside his bed an absolute wreck, tears tracking through the dirt and sweat on his face and maybe wrapped up in a shock blanket and Dooku breaking over him first, since he’s the only one conscious to take comfort in it, and revert back into that mother-hen-master role
Giving the healers what for about leaving a traumatized /child/ to sit by his critically injured master with little to no medical attention and allow him to suffer on his own (maybe Obi-Wan wanted it that way but Dooku would certainly never stand by and witness this treatment of a Padawan) and he sees to Obi-Wan himself, helping him clean up and calm down and eat something before they come back to find Qui-Gon slightly coherent
Obi-Wan’s lips tremble precariously as he is confronted with his master’s loopy smile and the warm touch over their bond because he feels like he’s failed him yet again and he nearly /lost/ him but both Qui-Gon and Dooku assure him he did no such thing and they are immeasurably proud of him
Dooku waits until Obi-Wan is safely asleep in his and Qui-Gon’s quarters to lose his cool and feel that pesky attachment he’s not supposed to have tugging at his heart and he only sheds a few tears but that is enough. Qui-Gon understands. He knows how much he is loved.
Yikes I am feeling too many things
This may need to be a fully fledged fic
Yeah
It definitely, most certainly needs to be a fully fledged fic.
I utterly agree. Here, let me get the ball rolling.
It was a widely accepted truth amongst the Jedi that if Master Yan Dooku were to ever truly loose his cool, it would be a sign of the galaxy’s end.
And so, needless to say, the sight of said ever stoic Master running through the halls of the Jedi Temple, cloak whipping out behind him like a living creature, panic and fear roiling around him in the Force, had many of the younger members of the Order going pale and backing away a pace or two. One particularly young Padawan even hid behind their Master’s legs as the former Council member rushed past.
The next chapter in the Sith Apprentice: Darth Venge series is here! Chapter 1 of Calamities I: Geonosis, “The Spire,” is up!
Summary: Qui-Gon has Jango Fett take him to Geonosis to confront, and hopefully save, his old Master. Venge brings the rest of the Conspiracy from Coruscant to back him up.
I dunno what this is, but I can’t get the idea out of my head, so enjoy.
Warnings for death, blood, PTSD, fucked up Force Visions, and general hallucination/vision brought on unpleasantness.
EDIT: @lacefedora‘s reblog reminded me, listening to Breath of Life by Florence and the Machine on repeat while reading will up the intensity by like, a thousand.
It starts with a nightmare Qui-Gon’s having. He’s back on Telos, which only happened a short time ago, and he’s facing Xanatos. They’re fighting, and Qui-Gon wakes up screaming out. He sits in bed, shaking and breathing hard and fast for a few moments, before getting slowly out of bed.
He stumbles his way to the ‘fresher, holds the sink with white-knuckled hands to keep himself upright, and stares into the mirror. Suddenly, Xanatos is standing behind him in the glass, laughing as a broken circle scar appears on his cheeks and his eyes glow like acid. In an overwhelming mix of grief, rage, and panic, Qui-Gon punches the mirror, shattering the glass and the image.
Dude, I agree on all those points. (Except maybe the falling out. I kinda like to think they remained friends, even if they rarely talked. But it’s a rather moot point. Dooku would be heartbroken either way).
What do you think their falling out would have been over? I’m actually kinda curious!
I especially like the bit that Dooku developed an attachment to Qui-Gon. I fully fuckin’ agree on that. Not in the romantic sense (unless that’s how you roll, in which case more power to ya) but in the platonic, brother and brother type deal.
It’s funny, technically they’re closer in age than Anakin and Obi-Wan. The bromance would be so strong.
And the PAIN. Ooof. Palpatine wouldn’t even need to coerce him anymore at that point. Dooku would hop right in.
Dooku is in his room when it happens. It’s a rare event, him being at the Temple in the first place, but his negotiations went well and… Well, he needed to make a full report to the Council and to the Senate and so he is here, at home, where there is a soft sense of disquiet-
Ki had spoken exceedingly softly of Qui-Gon’s most recent performance before the Council. A too-old boy his latest stray, and the worry of a Sith-
So the council member had come to him, knowing that Dooku’s quiet specialisation was in histories and Dark Artefacts (not exactly deliberately. After coming across three of the things across three unconnected and actually Diplomatic missions in a row, Dooku had sighed and accepted the Force’s Will the same way he’d accepted Qui-Gon when the boy arrived). Dooku promised to look into it.
Then he’d sat with Sifo for a time, his old friend delighted to see him multiple times over. He forgets, sometimes, but his healer is always glad to see Dooku there for a visit; when Dooku is there, he forgets less. Dooku can feel his Pair Bond with his oldest friend flicker and strengthen and fade, all throughout their conversation.
Sifo places his hand over Dooku’s, and they discuss old things as though they are brand new.
Jocasta visits with Sifo while he’s there, and together they make tea and laugh well into the night and Dooku feels their Bonds to each other and to him and doesn’t begrudge it quite so much as he might pretend. Qui-Gon’s strength in the Living Force and the calls of its strays and attachments hadn’t nurtured itself.
The moment hits him Iike a punch to the gut he hasn’t been unprepared for since he was a Youngling. One second he is sitting and talking with Jocasta and Sifo, the next he’s on the floor and the healer is dividing her attention desperately between himself and Sifo, who’s convulsing in the way that always makes a cold ball of fear settle in the pit of Dooku’s stomach.
From Dooku, Qui-Gon also learned a certain kind of attachment.
Jocasta helps Dooku up, dusts him off when he makes no move to. Jocasta holds his hand and squeezes it, tears in her eyes as she tries to concentrate on Sifo, who eventually falls still.
The healer sets herself back and breathes, then turns wide eyes upon them both. Thanks them. Dooku barely hears her, he’s light years away, a numbness ringing in his senses. He strokes Sifo’s hair back with trembling fingers as Jocasta sits beside the other Jedi and nods at Dooku with more regality than a thousand royals on a thousand worlds, and then Dooku is running, practically flying, away from his Pair Bonds, up to his Master’s rooms.
“Qui-Gon,” he pants out when he reaches his destination and it’s incredible he was moving so fast as to actually be out of breath.
“Felt it, I have,” Yoda murmurs.
“The boy. I’ll train him,” Dooku blurts out, unconsciously using his Master’s speech patterns, and Yoda blinks solemnly at him.
“Will you indeed,” he replies, and Dooku is suddenly achingly aware that he’s not sure if he means Obi-Wan Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker.
Yoda looks aside, shuts his eyes. “As the Force wills, we will see.”
There's a Mirror on the Wall 