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Coruscant is colder than Tatooine. Well, Obi-Wan supposes that most planets are colder than Tatooine. But he never thought about that until he was somehow in the situation of bundling a freezing child in his own robe and considering asking for more blankets as poor little Anakin shivers almost pathetically in the night air.
It has been almost a month since he swore he would train the boy, following his master's dying wish.
He feels lost, truthfully. Somehow he has gone from a burden on Master Jinn to a Jedi tasked with training a boy too old to be taken in and raised as a standard Jedi youngling but too young to be a Padawan. And Master Jinn, who never believed in him a day in his too-short life, had spent his dying breath asking him to take this impossible task.
He wishes Master Jinn were here. Taking some of that burden, or all of that burden. Obi-Wan certainly isn't ready for it and he wasn't prepared to take it.
He also wishes Master Jinn hadn't spent his dying breath asking the young man who he believed was doomed to fall to the dark side to raise some child he had known for a day to be an outright hero who will bring balance to the force. Why would he do that?
That confusion and resentment melts away when the shivering bundle of blankets rests his tiny head on the Jedi's chest. Ani is a good kid, one who has already spent nine long years a slave. He deserves this chance.
And he deserves to be pulled into a hug. He's sure what the boy wants. To be held and kept warm, because the child is from a desert and the Jedi temple is cold.
Obi-Wan knows he probably shouldn't indulge the boy's need for contact. For physical affection. He should discourage that because it puts him at higher risk of attachments and-
He is drawn out of his thoughts by the quiet and innocent tone of Anakin's voice.
"I like you better than Watto," the boy says, relaxed into his Master's arms.
"Pardon?" Obi-Wan is stunned. He supposes he wasn't the only one reminiscing, but the comparison to the Toydarian junk dealer who owns slaves is a bit much to take in. The thought of owning people, sapient life forms, repulses him more than anything.
"You're a better Master than him," Anakin explains, and Obi-Wan's heart sinks. He looks down to see the big blue eyes staring at him from under blond fringe, a sincerity that matches his tone perfectly.
"That's because I'm a mentor. Not an owner. You're not a slave anymore, Ani." Obi-Wan half whispers, brushing the kid's hair from his eyes with his fingers. "You're an aspiring Jedi."
"I know. I'd still rather have you in charge than Watto."
"The only Master I care to surpass is Qui-Gon Jinn." he will never make Anakin feel useless or unwanted. That is the one thing he is certain of as he pulls him closer.
"If somebody can be better than him, I bet it's you." Anakin assures, closing those big bright eyes of his. He doesn't know just how much that means. How could he?