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Cody was enjoying a peaceful day with his hoard.
And then a wizard arrived.
He glared at the wizard.
The wizard, amazingly, seemed unconcerned. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi. I come seeking one of your scales."
"What use would you have of one of my scales?"
"I have been cursed and the one cure I have found involves the scales of an orange-gold dragon such as yourself."
Cody huffed some steam. "No. I will not help you. Go find some other dragon to help."
The wizard drooped. "Thank you for your time, golden one." He bowed and started walking back out.
Cody curled back up on his pile and watched the wizard go, curious despite himself.
Obi-Wan had not demanded. He had requested. And he accepted the refusal, even though he was greatly disappointed.
Before Obi-Wan could reach the exit, he collapsed in a coughing fit.
Cody lifted his head.
Obi-Wan shook his head and pushed himself up, leaning heavily on a staff, leaving the occasional flower behind as he walked and coughed.
Oh, so he really was cursed.
At the cave entrance he paused and then a look of panic crossed his face as he clutched at his chest, trying to breathe.
Cody cursed and shifted to human form, sliding down the pile of gold, grabbing a potion, and rushing to the wizard's side.
Obi-Wan was still struggling to breathe, though it seemed he was getting some air.
Cody shoved the potion into his mouth.
Obi-Wan swallowed it all and his eyes widened as he flung the vial away and then fire came out of his mouth. He spluttered and coughed.
"What was that?"
Cody smiled smugly. "Liquid dragon breath. Good for clearing out the lungs of everything."
"Well. Thank you." Obi-Wan nodded. "It seems I now owe you. How do I repay you?"
Cody crossed his arms and studied the wizard, resisting the urge to wiggle his fingers so he could stare at them. He did rarely turn human, so it always felt like a novelty.
Obi-Wan stared back, refusing to fidget or show weakness.
Cody nodded once. "Let's start by you telling me of your curse and how you ended up getting cursed in the first place."
"Very well. You wouldn't happen to have tea, would you?"
Cody sighed. "I do in fact have tea." He led the way to the human sized kitchen he kept for visitors.
Obi-Wan was quiet, and almost seemed to be fighting himself.
"It's more than one curse," Obi-Wan admitted. "But right now I'm seeking to do the one that is causing the most harm. The flowers... well, that one will only kill me when my lungs fill up with them. I think you set back their growth with the liquid dragon's breath, so I thank you for that."
Cody listened while he prepared the tea. He had learned how to make tea in a variety of ways when he was younger and enjoyed traveling. Before he learned he was naive to think everyone was nice and kind, especially humans.
"The one I was seeking your scale for... I was with my brother Quinlan and we touched the wrong runestone and just the right time to activate its curse. He is in my head and my body just cannot hold two souls."
"So, Quinlan is there now?"
"You bet I am," Obi-Wan's voice sounded completely different. "Nice to meet ya, golden one." Obi-Wan looked tired immediately after.
Cody made a face. "My name is Cody. I would prefer that. So a scale from a dragon like myself will help in the ritual how?"
Obi-Wan went from tired to excited. "Well, I actually needed different things from different magical sorts of races and I already have those, it's a lot harder to find a golden dragon than it is to just find a fae or a griffin."
Cody poured out the tea while Obi-Wan rambled on and on. He certainly knew his magic theory. And he was very excited about what he had so far on this ritual he was building from scratch with the help of the brother draining his life away. It wasn't just a 'cure' he found, he was creating an entire ritual from nothing, just theory and the original curse.
The curse had been active for four months, and he would die in two months.
"And that's why I have the staff. I am tired all the time and I find my strength leaving me at the worst of times. I can lean on the staff and keep my balance." Obi-Wan sighed. "It's not going to be long until I'm bedridden until death. For both of us."
Cody nodded, then sighed. "Unfortunately, dragon scales can't just be removed like that for no reason. It is incredibly painful to even try. But I am the only golden dragon within miles. You do not have the time to go to any of the others. I am due for a molt, during which sometimes scales fall off like a human child's tooth falls out when it is time for bigger teeth to grow in. We shall have to see if that happens and if it happen in time."
Obi-Wan sighed. "I suppose that is our only choice."
"Damn. Sorry Obes."
"Not your fault, we've been over it Quin."
"I still should have done my research. I'm supposed to be better than that."
"Well you made a mistake. We either gotta figure out what to do next or make the most of the time we have left."
"But..." Quinlan in Obi-Wan's body sighed and crossed his arms. “You're right.”
"Thank you. Now can I have full control again?"
"Sorry."
Obi-Wan was left looking even more exhausted. But even so, he smiled at Cody. "Thank you for the tea. It is quite good."
"I don't like it but I like being able to make such things and make them well. No point in learning the skill, otherwise."
"That is a good philosophy to have."
Cody nodded. "Can you tell me about the other curses?"
"The flower curse... I don't know what is kind of curse it is. I just know that I can't breathe. That there are flowers in my lungs. All kinds of flowers. And I don't know what is causing it. I don't know how to stop it. I'm not even sure what happened for me to get it. The only instance I can think of was helping some elderly halflings look for their runaway daughter years after she ran away. Found with half dragon grandkids. I know they have magic but why would they curse me?"
"Unless it wasn't a curse and they were trying to help you?"
"How would killing me slowly with flowers help me?"
Cody shrugged. "There must be something. You just haven't noticed the connections yet."
Obi-Wan grumbled. "And then there's the third curse." He was oddly embarrassed. "I got that curse before the flower curse. I didn't realize the treasure room we had found in a dungeon was actually a dragon's hoard."
"What kind of curse?" Cody asked, intrigued. He didn't really curse his hoard. He figured anyone who managed to take something from his hoard deserved to keep it without consequences. Unless it was something sentimental but he kept those separate from the main hoard anyways.
Obi-Wan sighed. "Part punishment for the type of item I took, which I wasn't even sure I wanted, I was just looking at it and was about to put it back, and part punishment for daring touch a dragon's hoard. I... transform into a woman once a month for three days, every twenty eight days."
Cody grimaced. "Not terrible, but not fun either. My brothers liked to play with that sort of curse," he added at Obi-Wan's confused look.
"The other part of the curse... Well. For two weeks every two months, I get to recover from all the bones in my body being broken in some way. Every. Bone."
"But aren't-"
"Yes. It all heals up by the end of two weeks but it does mean I am essentially bedridden."
Cody studied him and held back the impulse to say 'so that's why you're so skinny'. "Why are you doing this alone?"
Obi-Wan sighed. "I am a wanderer, and the only person I have ever truly been able to count on is living in my body now. Before we touched the runestone, he was helping me. But for the last four months, yes I have essentially been alone. Quin has been getting quieter lately," he admitted, voice breaking. "Two months left... and the life is leaving his soul already, slowly."
"And when will those bones break?"
"It usually happens about six weeks after they finish healing but sometimes wait until eight weeks."
"And it's been...?"
Obi-Wan sighed. "It's been four weeks. I have time."
Cody studied him again. "By the time you recover from the broken bones, you will be bedridden from the curse currently taking your life, for the last two weeks of your life, if I understand what you were saying correctly."
"It is what it is." Obi-Wan shrugged. "I should still be able to summon the magic required to break the curse until the very last day."
Cody sighed. "Very well. You're staying here. I have a few human bedrooms as some of my siblings have found they prefer human form. I do not. If there is a name on the door, don't sleep there, otherwise any room is fair game."
Obi-Wan swallowed and nodded. "Thank you. I owe you a great debt."
"We will figure out how you will settle it if you live. If you do not, I will just add your possessions to my hoard. I think that is a fair enough trade considering the state you are in."
Obi-Wan considered, then nodded. "Thank you. Then by your leave, I am going to go settle in."
"Go ahead." Cody nodded, watching Obi-Wan leave. Very interesting human. Adapted well to having another soul living in his body. Determined to break the curse first, then worry about the others. Adapted to it all almost too well.
Cody was intrigued and wanted to see how it all played out. He expected his molt in the next few weeks. He could already feel his scales itching. One would certainly come off. It had been a few rounds since a molt had caused scales to regrow.
Once the wizard had his scale, he would then make a decision on how to settle the debt, and he could move on from this interesting interlude in his life.
Cody preferred the lazy life. His father had dragged him out to too many battles when he was younger. He had accumulated his own hoard, moved out and now he just liked to lay on it and do little else. There was no need to add more. It was perfect the way it was.
Cody shifted into his dragon form and curled back up the way he had been. As intriguing as Obi-Wan was, that was exhausting. He let out a yawn and stretched before curling up and sleeping.
.
Cody was surprised not to see the wizard in his usual corner doing his research and making sure the ritual to remove the curse was perfect so that it worked the first time.
He wondered why the wizard had not come out. Then he groaned when he realized he would have to go to human form. He had used it a hand full of times to help Obi-Wan learn his way around, but otherwise he was content to stay dragon.
This would be his first time going into Obi-Wan's room. He entered the maze of bedrooms and frowned. Obi-Wan wasn't in any of them... Why did the wizard take the smallest bedroom?
He opened the door. Obi-Wan was laying in bed, sleeping restlessly, clearly in pain.
Cody wanted to ask, then he realized it had already been four weeks. He'd barely noticed when Obi-Wan turned into a woman, as he kept his hair short even in that form and did not act any different. But this was hard to miss. He should have known it was coming.
How had four weeks with a human gone so unnoticed? How had he made it that long without realize Obi-Wan was about to get his bones broken?
Cody frowned. His molt should have come by now. He was getting incredibly itchy, even in human form.
Obi-Wan shifted and whimpered, but didn't really wake.
Cody groaned. Great. Just great. Now he had to take care of Obi-Wan. He didn't like humans. Just because Obi-Wan was intriguing for a human didn't mean that he liked him. Nope.
Cody sighed and stepped up, taking a quick look at the broken bones he could see. Obi-Wan wasn't kidding. Each of his finger bones was broken, each of the bones in his hands were broken. Cody didn't take a closer look. He did make sure everything was properly in place, to ease healing a bit.
Then he found some human painkillers one of his brothers left behind and got that in Obi-Wan.
Then came the part he really didn't want to do right now. Feed him. First he had to make something, then it he had to force Obi-Wan to eat it. Obi-Wan was already far too skinny.
There would be other trickier parts that came with Obi-Wan healing rapidly from all the broken bones. He would need help in the bathroom, regular changes of clothes and all that.
Cody resigned himself to spending a lot of time in human form.
Obi-Wan was near incoherent from the pain, barely even registering that he was being helped let alone who was helping him.
It was three days into taking care of Obi-Wan, with Obi-Wan still struggling to stay awake through the pain and painkillers, that something unexpected happened.
Obi-Wan turned to him, suddenly coherent. But there was a smile on his face that wasn't quite his. Oh. It was Quinlan.
"It's his body so he takes the brunt of the pain," Quinlan explained quietly. He was far less energetic than he had been when they first met. "Which means we can talk without Obi-Wan hearing."
"I see...?" Cody frowned.
"First of all, thank you. Obi-Wan has a tendency to care for everyone else first but aside from me few we meet ever return the favor. You don't like us, but you're helping anyways. Shows you're a good person."
Cody crossed his arms and looked away, embarrassed.
Quinlan smiled a little wider. "But here's the problem. I can't... It's hard to push myself forward like this. I'm losing the strength. I suspect that by the time his bones heal... I'm not sure he'll even be able to hear me as he had been. But there's still time, remind him that the curse won't kill either of us until it has been six months. He's going to panic."
Cody nodded slowly. "Okay. I suppose I can do that."
"Thank you." Quinlan sighed. "I have noticed a pattern in the flowers though Obi-Wan still hasn't noticed. They correspond to his feelings. Always the same flower for each. I wouldn't have noticed if we didn't share the same body right now, so that I could feel his emotions. I don't know what it means, but I doubt Obi-Wan is going to solve it anytime soon. He never even acknowledges his feelings."
Cody sighed. "I noticed that. You're not going to tell me which flower corresponds to which emotion?"
"No. I'm not going to violate his privacy like that. He has good reason for not acknowledging his emotions. Being emotional... never ended well for him. Especially not when it came to Qui-Gon, one of the community that raised us."
"Community raised you?"
"We're orphans. Qui-Gon saw potential in Obi-Wan but couldn't stand his outbursts of emotions. Obi-Wan learned that the only way to keep from outbursts was to hide the emotions and occasionally let them out in controlled bursts, but that also means he doesn't deal with his emotions. Which may have to do with the flowers."
"What makes you say that?"
"We both think the elderly halfling couple cast the curse. But I think they were concerned about him. He wasn't very receptive to talking about himself or emotions or anything, and it seemed to concern them. I remember they even told him it was okay to cry at one point and he just looked at them and was like 'why would I cry?' I'm not sure he even realized he was crying at the time."
"Okay... why are you telling me this?"
"The flowers get worse every time he has intense emotions- he didn't take your rejection well, he's just learned to internalize those feelings, which is why he nearly suffocated. He's going to be very emotional when I go silent."
"I see." Cody shook his head. "Good to know. If nothing else, I still have plenty of liquid dragon's breath."
"Yeah. You're a dragon." There was a hint of amusement through the exhaustion. Quinlan sighed. "I don't see any way the ritual can go wrong at this point, he's just fine tuning it out of paranoia. Once he has the scale, he can do the ritual."
Cody nodded. "Got it." He frowned. "Are you okay?"
Quinlan shrugged. "It was bad enough losing my body. I've had an inside look at my brother's mind and learned things he's kept secret from me unintentionally. I never knew he was hurting so much. And it's not been easy dealing with everything. I'll wait until I got my body back to figure it out though. Right now I'm just worried about Obi crashing if he thinks I'm gone for good."
Cody wondered how he became a therapist for humans, but nodded. "Makes sense. I'll see what I can do."
Quinlan gave him a smile and then he was gone.
Obi-Wan whimpered, trying to find a comfortable position.
Cody sighed and helped him out.
This was going to be a long eleven days. Three days had been bad enough and he still had more to do.
.
Cody watched Obi-Wan cough up more flowers. It actually looked quite painful. But the more Obi-Wan coughed them up, the less would stick in his lungs.
He thought he was picking out a pattern. Forget me nots when he was feeling lonely, basil when he was hating himself, bleeding hearts when he was literally in pain and couldn't handle it, and yellow roses when he was just feeling sad.
Interestingly, Cody noted, sometimes the emotions and flower combinations lined up with flower language, and sometimes they did not. It made it harder to figure out what each flower meant, but it worked for Obi-Wan.
As Cody took care of Obi-Wan, some other flowers started popping up. Bright and cheerful sunflowers. Those ones seemed especially painful, but he couldn't figure out what they meant. They didn't seem to be connected with anything. There were others but he figured out they meant frustration, happiness, and rejection. He wasn't sure why Obi-Wan was feeling rejection at the randomest of times. But Obi-Wan was also the most resistant to showing his feeling at that time.
At least a week in, Obi-Wan started being able to do some things as the pain faded. He insisted on it when Cody protested.
"The curse is such that I always heal up, no matter what I do. I rebroke my finger on accident once and it still healed up at the end of the two weeks. So it doesn't matter if I push myself too hard." Obi-Wan coughed and three bleeding hearts appeared in his hand.
"You take on too much." Cody said before he could think better of it. Then he mentally cursed. Why, why was he having feelings for this man? What was it about him that was so intriguing?
...it was a lot of things. The way Obi-Wan did know his limits and pushed himself in ways a normal person wouldn't but did actually make sense when using his logic. The way Obi-Wan talked about helping other people yet could not seem to understand why Cody was helping him, going bright red every time Cody moved him, even after a week. It was the way he talked about his brother with love and admiration, the way he clearly wanted to be like Quinlan, but had always fallen short of Quinlan's confidence. It was the way he respected Cody, respected that he was a dragon. It was the way that he talked about others he had met.
Why was Cody falling in love with a human of all possible people? It had to be a human. But Obi-Wan was everything he'd wanted in a life partner, though he had a lot of baggage and self worth issues.
He was even starting to look at Obi-Wan's ritual, how he'd dissected the runestone that cast the curse and come up with an entirely unique ritual to undo it. It was amazing work. Not something most human magical wielders could do. It took decades of hard work, so most of those who came up with unique magics were well into their sixties and seventies, and it was far easier for someone who was not a human to reach that level as they just had to live long enough for it.
It was while he was looking through some of his own magic books that it finally happened.
Obi-Wan was going over his notes again, talking to himself, to Quinlan, as he often did. He froze.
"Quin? Quin? Quin!"
It was the first time Cody saw something other than the calm mask Obi-Wan had cultivated that let hints of other emotions slip through. Even when in serious pain he was always trying to hide it unless he was asleep.
Obi-Wan's face crumbled and he started crying. "No, no, no, no... Quin, Quin come back, please!" he continued sobbing, then he started coughing, white roses dropping into his hands one after the other until there was a small growing pile. All the while, his tears didn't stop.
Cody set his book aside and leaned forward. "Obi-Wan, you still have two weeks and a few days. He's not totally gone. Not until your six months are up. I'm sure he'll be okay."
"What about the molt?" Obi-Wan asked desperately. "When's that going to happen?"
Cody scratched at the itchiest spot on his neck at the reminder. "I need to spend more time in dragon form and it should happen within days."
Obi-Wan stared at him. "Then go do that!"
"Not until your bones are healed. Then we can discuss you struggling with things and having you out by my hoard so I can be there if you need something. I can't come into these rooms as a dragon."
Obi-Wan sighed. "Fine. But you better molt within days." The next time he coughs there is a white rose and a golden snapdragon, which Cody had come to realize represented his love for Quinlan. Then came the giant sunflower that he still didn't know what it meant.
Cody nodded. He was mostly just relieved his caretaking was almost at an end. He could send Obi-Wan on his way. As fond as he was of the human, he really didn't want a human around. Right? No human around.
But... Cody was looking over books on dragon magic, to see if there was anything he could do to help. Because apparently he was a sucker for Obi-Wan despite everything he knew about humans.
.
Days later, Cody was taking a much needed sleep curled up on top of his hoard. He was still catching up after all that time keeping an eye on Obi-Wan and making sure he wasn't doing something stupid since he was apparently far too used to doing everything on his own.
Obi-Wan got distracted from his preparations, what he could do with how little energy he had these days. He was sleeping twelve hours instead of eight now.
There was a skylight somewhere in this cave and the light was just hitting Cody just right. Obi-Wan adored how Cody looked with the sun hitting him just right. He just wished he could draw it, but Obi-Wan's talent lay with magic and words, not with art.
He coughed and coughed, lungs aching until a big sunflower lay on his hands. His through and mouth ached after that too. He wiped his mouth and winced at the blood that came away. But the sunflower was pretty.
For some reason, it always reminded him of Cody. He wasn't sure why. He felt like there was a pattens though to all the flowers. He just hadn't figured out. Or maybe, he was scared.
Because the halflings that had to have been the ones to curse him, they were so nice. They wouldn't be doing this to be malicious. They were trying to help him. But it was killing him because he refused to make the connection. Because part of him knew. Part of him understood and he couldn't. He couldn't acknowledge it. Couldn't take that risk. It was fine.
He could die once Quinlan was safe. Once Quinlan lived, his own life didn't matter anymore. And now Quinlan wasn't even around to yell at him for such thoughts, so it was okay. It would be okay. Just had to get through these last few days until Cody molted.
It was fascinating, really, watching the way the scales seemed to harden, and how Cody scratched off the hard shells revealing a shinier scale than before underneath. This was apparently a process that could take anywhere from a single day to an entire week. At least it had started. Now they just had to wait and see if a scale fell off. If not... Obi-Wan had failed. If so, then Quinlan would live just as soon as he pulled off the ritual. It would work. It had to work.
Obi-Wan went over the details again. He was still grateful he found a way to make it work without asking a god for help. They were more trouble than they were worth. There was always a price. At least doing the magic himself, he knew the price could be as much as his life, or as little as a drop of blood. It was straight forward and didn't bind himself to a strange being for the rest of his life.
Cody opened one eye when the noise of Obi-Wan working paused and he started coughing. He coughed out another sunflower and then smiled up at Cody, seemingly not noticing that Cody was awake. He smiled like Cody had never seen, genuinely happy. At Cody?
But Cody was a dragon, what made a human so happy about that. The sun was warm on his scales. Then there was an itch and he scratched at it until it went away. He laid down with a sigh. This was one of the long molts. As annoying the short ones were, at least it was over mostly all at once.
Another itch hit him. He couldn't quite reach it, in one of the few spots he couldn't scratch without rubbing against something. He wiggled and tried to get it because he hated having to rub against other things.
"What are you doing?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.
"Trying to get an itch," Cody grunted.
"Can I try?"
"I suppose it can't hurt, if you can get up to the back of my neck."
Obi-Wan nodded and pushed himself up. He was breathing hard after just that movement, but he was determined to do something to help after Cody had been so helpful to him.
Cody helped him climb up his body, even though he was clearly uncomfortable with it.
Obi-Wan could tell which scales needed the scratch immediately, and he was glad he brought up his staff with him. It was going to be far more effective at scratching it than his hands.
Cody groaned as he hit just the right spot.
Obi-Wan grinned and kept at the scales until the hard covering popped off. To his surprise, an entire scale popped out and nearly landed on his feet.
"A scale fell off!"
"Oh, good. Keep scratching."
Obi-Wan chuckled, overjoyed and put his all into it.
"Okay, that's all of it." Cody sighed contentedly, laying his head down.
Obi-Wan picked up the fallen scale and examined it, amazed by how much it looked like the sun. It was perfect. And the size of his chest. He didn't mind, though. Just hugged it and carefully slid down Cody's leg, using his staff to keep him from falling too far out of control.
He was exhausted when he got to the bottom. He sat down and decided to rest for a bit before he started preparing for the ritual. He closed his eyes for just a few seconds.
Cody woke up to another itch. It was just his tail, easy to deal with. And it was his whole tail so that was nice. All those scales taken care of.
But before he moved he heard Obi-Wan make a sleepy noise, and there was a shift in the treasure pile.
Cody looked down. Curled up around his scale, under his paw, was Obi-Wan, sleeping peacefully. He was adorable. Cody had never seen him so content. He was always calm or serious. Or frowning. Never... content. Almost happy.
Cody settled back down and pulled Obi-Wan closer, resting his head down next to Obi-Wan. As annoying as itching was, he could actually sleep through it if he wanted. And well. He wasn't going to disturb his sleeping human.
Obi-Wan woke up feeling warm and comfortable and oddly safe in a way he hadn't felt since he was a child. He opened his eyes, confused and was even more confused when he saw the wing over him. At that point he became aware of a weight on his body and he looked down to see a dragon's paw. He turned his head and froze.
Cody's closed eye was right there. He was leaning on Cody's snout. How did that happen? ...Was Cody snuggling him?
Obi-Wan stared at him, something warm settling in him, but he ignored it. Cody was really nice, but why was he cuddling like this? Obi-Wan wiggled, but it got him nowhere, so he resigned himself to basically being a teddy bear for a dragon.
A wonderful, thoughtful, kind dragon, but still a dragon.
Obi-Wan coughed and coughed and coughed, blood falling onto his hands before the slightly bloody sunflower made it out. He was starting to think that the sunflower definitely had something to do with Cody, but he could not imagine what. He set the flower to the side, tired from the coughing fit. Another nap couldn't hurt... They had the scale now. It wouldn't be hard to set up the ritual and get it done. He had time now.
Cody woke up, and was surprised to find himself snuggling Obi-Wan. That... was not planned. But he really did love Obi-Wan. Oh.
He did fall in love with a human after all. He was never going to hear the end of it. But... it was worth it. After a moment he grew a little alarmed. He smelled blood.
Obi-Wan stirred and yawned before sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He jumped when he saw Cody's eye right next to him.
"Ah. Hello there, Cody."
"I smell blood."
"Oh, the sunflowers keep causing problems on their way out. Nothing to worry about."
Cody was going to worry about it.
.
Obi-Wan had the ritual set up. He was nervous about it, and how much mint he kept coughing up, something he had always associated with anxiety as it was Qui-Gon's go to for anxiety, did not help. At least it left behind a pleasant aroma.
Cody shifted into human form and stepped up, studying the ritual circle. "Are you ready?"
"Yes. And once Quin is recovered we can discuss what we owe you."
"I am still thinking about that. But I was studying my magic books, and I want to give the ritual a dragon's blessing."
"I have never heard of that." There was a spark of curiosity, quite a bit of interest. Obi-Wan was always eager to learn new things.
"It is a blessing that helps things along but it also can have side effects if those involved are not dragons. I do not know what the result will be with this ritual, but I can guess. I think any of the side effects will help you two in fulfilling the debt."
Obi-Wan was uncertain, but... despite himself, he had come to trust Cody. Cody who still periodically gave him liquid dragon's breath. Cody who had trusted him to scratch that itch and not do something to hurt him. Cody who had taken care of him for weeks.
"Alright. Go for it."
Cody nodded and disappeared. He came back with what he needed, and blew to start a fire. He loved breathing fire in human form. It was always hilarious seeing people's faces when they didn't know. Obi-Wan's face was priceless.
He started burning what was needed, humming as he concentrated on what he wanted to do. Bless the ritual to undo a curse, to help ensure Quinlan's body reappeared; the trickiest part of the ritual, and the part Cody knew Obi-Wan was most paranoid about.
He thought it might undo the curse laid on Obi-Wan for stealing from a dragon. If another dragon blesses him, surely that would cancel out the curse.
He felt the blessing take hold, watched the ritual circle glow with golden light.
Obi-Wan smiled at him then stepped in and started the ritual.
Cody watched, worried. Anything could go wrong. At least there hadn't been a coughing fit yet. He thought he was starting to see a pattern in when the flowers appeared. They didn't often appear with positive emotions. But Obi-Wan often was openly showing them, seemed okay with being happy instead of ashamed. So there could be something to Obi-Wan taking care of his feelings, not just how he experienced them.
But that would have to be a thought for another time.
The ritual worked.
...Quinlan appeared in the body of a dragon. Another gold dragon, though he didn't have any hints orange in his scales like Cody. He was breathing and as he woke up, the form wavered, leaving behind a naked human with a gold stripe tattoo across his face. He blinked a few times and rubbed his face then paused and looked at his hands, a look of delight and relief crossing his face as he jumped up.
Obi-Wan collapsed at the end, body feeling strange after having shared it for so long. After a moment he sat up, shaking his head.
"Something's wrong..."
"I think it might be the blessing," Cody said quietly.
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to say something but fire came out instead. Obi-wan quickly closed his mouth, panicking, near hyperventilating.
Cody rushed to his side, glancing at Quinlan who was adjusting to having a body again and kept accidentally shifting back to dragon form. He wasn't going to be any help for a while.
"Breathe, Obi, breathe," Cody said firmly. "Panic is only going to make it worse."
"Easy for you to say!" Obi-Wan responded hysterically. "I have never had breathing fire be a thing before! What else did that blessing do?"
"Quinlan appeared in the form of a dragon... I think he's essentially a dragon now."
Obi-Wan stared then slumped. "Of course he got the best end of it. It's for the best really, but why does he have to get it and I just get fire breathing." Obi-Wan started putting things away.
Cody was going to ask him to try to see if he had a dragon form. But Obi-Wan just kept talking.
"I mean. I love Quinlan and he deserves the world so it's fine." Obi-Wan coughed up some flowers. "And I will be fine. I just need to..." Another coughing fit. "Damn flowers."
His rambling grew more disjointed but every word alarmed Cody. Obi-Wan had such low self worth, didn't see what Cody saw.
Cody was still trying to figure out what to say. Obi-Wan continued on his ramble, some loud and clear, some soft mumbles.
"...Cody really didn't have to do the blessing, just because it makes it easier to fulfill our debt doesn't mean he had to do it and..." This time he had three blood stained sunflowers in his hand.
And suddenly Obi-Wan couldn't breathe. He sank to his knees as he tried to draw in a breath, but he found he didn't really mind. He hit his breaking point. Feelings were too much, he wanted to die, and he kind of deserved it. He was worthless. His vision stared fading. He bet it was the sunflowers' fault. That was a worthwhile flower to suffocate on.
"Obi-Wan!" Cody exclaimed, kneeling at his side, catching him when he started falling. "Come on, breathe dammit. You need to breathe."
Obi-Wan couldn't draw enough air to say a word. He tried to signal that it was okay, he was okay with this.
Cody realized what Obi-Wan was trying to say, and he was not okay with it. Even so, he was surprised when his face felt weird, and he went to rub it. only to find he had started crying.
Cody held him, crying. "Just admit your feelings, please. That's all you have to do, I bet. Just admit to yourself what you're feeling."
Obi-Wan's eyes closed. He was not interested in that. He wanted to die.
Cody started sobbing, holding Obi-Wan close. He kissed Obi-Wan, tears pouring down his face. Another reason he hated being human. Tears were annoying all hot and watery and sticking weird.
Obi-Wan's eyes opened in confusion. Was Cody crying over him? Why did Cody kiss him?
"Love you Obi," Cody whispered, not noticing that Obi-Wan had opened his eyes.
That made Obi-Wan's chest hurt more and air got even harder to get. But it broke the dam. He loved Cody. He really, truly did. The air started coming back, though he didn't notice. He was too busy thinking about his feelings, a cascade of thought, emotion, and just acknowledging how he truly felt instead of hiding it some more.
He could breathe again. And he was crying. Sobbing, really. When he felt Cody's lips on his, all he could do was return the kiss, clinging as he finally let it all out, bringing his lungs to full capacity for the first time since he had been cursed.
Cody decided caring for Obi-Wan had been worth it.