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There was a lot on Obi-Wan's mind at the moment.
Korkie's birthday being tomorrow and how old it suddenly made him feel that his son was turning five; there were papers to write and requisitions to file for work, all stuff that he was forcing to wait until Monday because it's his son's birthday, dammit. Another less serious, but equally stressful thought on his mind revolved around the dye he was sure was dripping into his eyes and the ever-present fear of smacking his head on the faucet.
"It would be done already if you just held still, christ." Garen shoved at his head, more water splashing into his eyes.
"Yes, and I'd be dead already if you knew how to waterboard properly." his hand shot back to shove blindly at his friend, completely oblivious to the photos Ahsoka was taking of the whole endeavor. "Where is Bant? Why did she leave me alone with you?" he groaned as Garen pulled him up, shoving a towel at his face.
"She's on a date, and she wouldn't even tell me who." Ahsoka piped up, looking up from her phone to catch their eyes. "She's coming here after though, and she said she's bringing the girl." the shared look between the boys was a truce, because absolutely nothing could be more important than investigating their best friend's new girl. She rolled her eyes at them, even though she was just as curious as to Bant's mystery date. "They'll probably be here in an hour or so, by the looks of it, and we have a lot more to do before we take a break to interrogate her."
"Anakin's already on goodie bags, Ahsoka sets up the science table, and Garen and I put together the playset?" Obi-Wan listed off tasks from his phone, half-heartedly trying to dry his hair with his other hand.
"How come Anakin gets to do goodie bags and I'm banned from touching sugar?" Garen asked, even as he moved towards the door to head downstairs.
"Because Ani will crash after the third candy but you won't go down unless there's a bat involved."
"What if I consent to the bat?"
Cody had never really given much thought to ever having kids.
He was good with them sure, a product of being one of the older brothers, but the idea of having his own never crossed his mind. Then he had to go and fall in love with his best friend and local teenage parent, so he ended up having one anyway. It helped that Korkie was a cool kid and, hilariously, almost the exact opposite of little Boba, the youngest Fett always so serious. Korkie always found the silver lining in things, always laughing, his easy going attitude made it almost simple to be one of his parents. Sharing the job with two other people helped too, obviously.
Before he and Obi-Wan officially started dating, he had always been wary of Satine and her past relationship with him. Obi-Wan never once had a bad word to say about her, always stating that they simply didn't work out and that's why they weren't together. They made one hell of a team though, and that's why co-parenting worked well. Cody had been concerned that he'd be encroaching on that dynamic, worried about some latent jealousy, but Satine had welcomed him without so much as a blink. It was comfortable to even just sit around and talk, their career paths being as similar as they are.
Cody had just come back from picking up Korkie from Satine's when he noticed an unfamiliar car parked next to Garen's in the lawn. Shrugging it off as one of Anakin's projects, he continued on into the house.
"Uncle Ani!" the toddler shouted, running at full speed toward the teenager into waiting and open arms. The two had started growing closer the past year, the kid never really piecing together why his uncle couldn't quite look at him. The longer they were all out of that house though, the more everything softened.
"Everyone's outside," Anakin said, not looking up from where Korkie was inspecting the new prosthetic. "There's someone new out there too, didn't catch her name. Oh, and Garen has access to power tools."
"Thanks for the heads up." Cody couldn't help the roll of his eyes as he made his way to the backyard, Garen always a source of exhaustion. To the man's defense, Obi-Wan always brightened up when he was around. There was another side to his boyfriend that he was learning through watching him, Garen, and Bant, one that was more reckless and a little softer than what he had learned over the years. Things that were vaguely out of Obi-Wan's strict character like sleeping in once or twice (induced by a hangover, surely), the appearance of one or two stick and pokes, and an incident that ended with the pair of them sharing matching bruises. Slowly, things would dredge up from his past and instead of running from it, he'd acknowledge it. He'd learned what Obi-Wan and Ahsoka's mom's name was, what parts of her lived on in her kids. Just last week he'd heard Obi speak in Stewjoni for the first time while working on some lab with Garen.
There was a lot of good that came from having Garen around, even if Cody winced when he caught a glimpse of the drill in his hand.
Cody didn't make it more than a couple steps into the backyard when he was stopped in his tracks, confused as he saw his boyfriend talking to Bant and the stranger that Anakin had mentioned. The woman in question was beautiful, short platinum hair and clad in a dress of forest green that swayed in the summer breeze. There was a crimson blush high on Obi-Wan's cheeks as the trio laughed about something, and Cody's thoughts were caught like a loose thread on a wire when he saw her hand on his arm. Garen's voice echoed in his head, Obi-Wan's always had a thing for blondes. Cody was not the jealous type, not at all, so he did the next sensible thing and went to help Garen and Ahsoka with the swingset.
The distraction only worked for a moment before Garen dropped something loud enough to catch the attention of the three before prompting running into the house for anything to stop the bleeding. Cody's heart certainly did not do strange things when he saw Obi-Wan smile at him, the more rational side of him chastising him for ever being jealous. The bitter side of him flared up again when he saw the woman over his shoulder but he shoved that down as much as he possibly could, even as she spoke first.
"Is this the boyfriend?" there was something familiar in the mischievous glint of her grin, looking at Cody from where her chin was perched on Obi-Wan's shoulder. Her question was met with Obi-Wan shoving at her cheek playfully, blush reappearing.
"Yes. This is my boyfriend, Cody. Cody, meet Siri Tachi." the name made the gears in Cody's head turn, remembering the first time he met Garen and Bant, and how Garen had been so sure that Obi-Wan had to be dating Rex based solely off the fact that he was blonde. A face to the so called "love of little Obi's life", now grinning and holding a hand out to him.
"An absolute pleasure. I look forward to exchanging stories about every embarrassing thing this man has done or will do." he barely registered the handshake, but suddenly caught a glimpse of Siri's other hand intertwined with Bant's. Oh, and there was the positively awestruck look that clouded Bant's face, regarding Siri as is she were the sun. Cody was an absolute fool.
"Deal." he heard himself say, but her attention was fixed back on Obi-Wan.
"I demand to meet my littlest nephew, and Ferus' new best friend."
"Then go inside, where I'm sure he'd running Ani and Soka ragged. He can't see the backyard until tomorrow." another shove at the girls, now laughing at the sheer amount of exhaustion in his voice.
"He's an exact mini Obi, it's a little clone." Bant joked to her girlfriend as they may their way inside the house, Obi-Wan covering his face with his hands.
"Without you here, Ahsoka and I are the only sane ones." he groaned, dropping his head to Cody's shoulder. The older man laughed, pressing a kiss to the side of his head.
"What happened to your hair?" the realization dawned on him far too late, but now unavoidable at eye level with the electric hue.
"Blame Korkie and Garen. They ganged up on me, and Ahsoka had the dye anyway." Obi-Wan shifted so he could look up at his boyfriend, gauging his reaction. "Do you like it?" the hint of self doubt tugged at Cody's heartstrings and he pressed another kiss to his boyfriend's cheek.
"I think it's cute. You will be alone when you've gotta answer to my dad because now Echo and Fives are gonna wanna dye their hair blue too."
The moment of calm was over all too quickly by the back door being thrown open and Garen's yelling, "There are innocent eyes in the house!"
"He's not supposed to be looking in the backyard anyway!" Obi-Wan yelled back, pulling away from Cody and starting towards the house.
"I was talking about me!"
"No one could possibly believe you're innocent, Muln." Cody added, following after Obi-Wan.
"Just like how no one could possibly believe how green you turned when you first got here?" Garen's quick comeback was highlighted with a smile, turning back quickly and avoiding the daggers that Cody shot his way. Stopping mid-stride, it finally hit Obi-Wan.
"Were you jealous of Siri? Did you thi-"
"Nope, not having this discussion."
Korkyrach Eoin Kenobi remembers only a little about his life before this house, but he knows this as home. He's aware of the other kids that only know as far as their front yard, but he knows better than that because his athair charts the stars and tells him about galaxies that would take years to go to. Ba'vodu Garen says that he's gonna go to the stars one day, that even though he'll be really far away Korkie can still see him in the ca'tra .
He knows that his ba'vodu 'Soka makes really good cupcakes, and that ba'vodu Ani is quiet mostly around him but he's also so gentle that it's okay. He can be loud enough for both of them.
He knows how to say happy birthday in his parent's native languages, and he beams when he sees how proud they are when he repeats the phrases. Briikase gote'tuur; Co-là-breith math.
He dances with his buir and laughs when he gets caught in the layers of her dress, spinning until he lands in the warm grass with a soft thump.
He knows that everyone is laughing when he has Boga blow out the birthday candles with him, because he doesn't know if he can get them all in one go. There's six of them, and he's only turning five! He needs the help.
Cody'buir helps him with a science experiment, and he tries to point out that athair is the scientist but that stops mattering when his hand gets stuck in the bowl and he watches solid and liquid become the same thing at the same time.
He knows that he and Boba are flying when Ferus pushes them on the swing, and he secretly hopes he gets to fly for real one day. Maybe to Mars, where he can visit Percy and Oppy and Spirit and Curio and Sojourner.
Korkie knows that he doesn't know everything, but he hopes he remembers today.