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“I am not going to call you buir ,” Cody says, straight-faced, arms crossed, posture perfect as always.
Obi-Wan bites back his smile and nods seriously. “I would never ask you to do that.”
“It’s not you I was saying it for.”
“Ah,” Obi-Wan replies - he’s been expecting this conversation- though, perhaps not at this exact moment. “I’ll talk to him.”
“Not what I meant.”
“Care to enlighten me as to what it is you did mean?”
Cody stares at him for a moment. “Nope,” he ultimately says. “Same way you didn’t care to enlighten me that you were…engaging with him .”
“You specifically asked me not to tell you who I was engaging with.”
“I got tired of hearing about your many, many-”
“-I mean there weren’t that -”
“-many-”
“-I was a growing humanoid experiencing the-”
“-many-”
“Okay now you are simply slut-shaming.”
“ Many engagements,” Cody finishes with a smirk.
“It’s not as though you were a saint, my dear,” Obi-Wan reminds him, thinking of all the times that he caught one of Cody’s partners sneaking from their house on base.
Cody’s expression doesn’t change but Obi-Wan knows him well enough to look for the slight dusting of color on his cheeks.
“The difference is I don’t kiss and tell, in explicit detail, to my friends.”
Obi-Wan scoffs in mock-offense. “Not all my friends, only you.”
“An honor,” his friend deadpans.
“Oi,” Boil barks, entering the hallway. “Are you di’kute planning on gracing everyone with your presence? Because Waxer is fighting for his life out there.”
Cody and Obi-Wan share a glance before craning their necks to look around Boil, only to see Waxer moonwalking with his back to them, the crowd looking confused, but also entertained.
Obi-Wan can only think of one planet that has such bizarre dancing rituals. “Is he recreating Earth dances?”
“Earth isn’t even in this galaxy,” Cody says in disbelief.
Boil growls and pushes them back. “Get back before someone sees you. I’ll never hear the end of it from Skywalker.”
“I thought you wanted us out there,” Obi-Wan can’t help saying, shit-eating grin on his face. It was so easy to work Boil up.
“Only if you want to- if you are looking to run, it will be easier to get a head start if no one sees you.”
Cody scoffs. “Do you think I would hesitate to implement any of the back-up plans if he didn’t want to be here?”
“Back-up plans?” Obi-Wan asks, eyebrows up as he looks over to Cody, who swiftly turns and ignores him.
Boil also ignores him. “Then what are you two doing back here?”
“You have multiple back-up plans?”
They ignore him again.
“Classified. Now, get back out there before someone else-”
“I couldn’t find the flowers you wanted,” Anakin shouts, out of breath in his ceremonial garb, before bending over to put his hands on his knees and try to catch his breath.
Obi-Wan - who knows firsthand how endless Anakin’s energy supply can be - can only watch in amazement as Cody gives the twenty-one year old an unimpressed look.
Boil looks confused as he picks up the basket of flowers imported from both Obi-Wan’s birth-planet, and the planet he grew up on before joining the Galactic Army.
“Aren’t these them?”
Anakin glances over at the basket of flowers before turning to Cody, looking betrayed. “Did you have those the whole time?”
Cody shrugs, looking unbothered - as always- and takes the basket of flowers from the still confused Boil. “Whoops.”
“You did that on-”
“As amusing as this all is,” Fox drawls from where he is suddenly leaning against the hallway. “Unless we are implementing one of Cody’s many , many -”
“-just how many back-up plans do you have?”
Obi-Wan is ignored - again .
“-escape plans, Boil needs to get back out there. His expression is going from nervous to something else, and I personally don’t feel like rescheduling this because of some superstitious nonsense that will send Skywalker into a tizzy.”
“They aren’t nonsense,” Anakin hisses, glaring over at Fox - a useless endeavour as in Obi-Wan’s experience, Fox is perhaps even more unbothered than Cody is, a feat he never knew possible.
Boil sighs before straightening up. “I’m going back out…unless there are any objections?”
Anakin gasps. “That’s not your line.” His little brother turns to him, genuine concern on his face. “Obi-Wan, that’s not a good sign, maybe we should cancel and-”
“No.”
Surprisingly, the objection comes from Cody .
“What?” They all say, in differing levels of shock and disbelief - except of course for Fox who only rolls his eyes and looks away, as if the whole interaction has offended him.
To be fair, Obi-Wan cannot wrap his head around the fact that Fox - who was the most opposed to this - has not only shown up today, but is trying to keep the events moving smoothly.
But in close second to not wanting this event to happen, is - or at least, was - Cody. To hear him now say that they shouldn’t cancel…is a shock.
“You heard me. Obi-Wan has waited long enough for this - we are doing it. Everyone back in position.”
Because it is Cody, and his very existence screams of authority, everyone quickly moves in response to his order, without objection.
Boil gives Obi-Wan a thumbs up before turning and walking back out there, hopefully rescuing Waxer from doing any further dances.
Fox rolls his eyes but follows him.
Anakin narrows his eyes but ultimately concedes, yanking the basket from Cody, petals exploding out at the motion.
“Ah,” the boy - Obi-Wan will always think of him as the little boy his dad had fathered on one of his adventures and only discovered when the boy’s mother tragically passed away and left him to Qui-Gon - frantically bends and tries to pick up all the petals he can.
“You’re sure about this?” Obi-Wan asks Cody over Anakin’s crouched body.
Cody’s mouth twitches as they share a long look. “No. But you’re sure of it, and I’ve been sure of you since I met you. Anywhere you go, I go, no matter how foolish, and stupid it may be - you know that.”
Obi-Wan fights back the tears that threaten to spill over, knowing that tears would only send Anakin and Cody into a tizzy. “Alright,” he responds, voice hoarse with barely contained emotion.
Anakin ruins the moment by standing up with a huff. “I recovered all that I could. And don’t worry, I haven’t heard of spilled petals causing any bad luck…or someone else asking about objections. I just want this day to be perfect for you, like mine was - uh will be. Like I want my wedding to be.”
Obi-Wan smiles adoringly at his flustered little brother. “Great.”
Cody - who always played the traditional stern older brother way better than Obi-Wan ever could - shoves Anakin forward.. “Get going, kid.”
Instead of arguing over how he isn’t a kid as he normally would, Anakin only glares at Cody before looking at Obi-Wan and taking a deep breath. He is probably taking this event and all the proceedings more seriously than Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan can feel the tears threatening to spill again as he stares at how grown-up his little brother looks - but before he can further dwell, Fox’s head pops back into the hallway.
The music changes to a ridiculously romantic sounding song that Obi-Wan can’t place..
“What is that song?”
“That’s Skywalker’s cue,” Fox says, pointing towards the entrance. “Get to throwing, kid.”
“I am married ,” Anakin grumbles as he moves towards Fox.
Fox snorts. “Yeah, because you don’t know how to use protection.”
“ What ?”
“Oops, was that a secret?” Fox asks, looking anything but innocent.
Obi-Wan looks over at Cody, who avoids his gaze, so he looks back at Anakin. “What do you mean, you are married ?”
The music gets louder and the look of horror on Anakin’s face disappears. “That’s my cue,” he squeaks, shooting an overtly cheerful smile to Obi-Wan before darting out of his reach.
Fox flips them off and follows Anakin out of view.
Obi-Wan turns to Cody. “Is Padme pregnant?”
“Do you really want to talk about this today?” Cody asks as he brushes invisible dust and lint off of Obi-Wan’s ceremonial uniform.
Actually yes, Obi-Wan really would like to know if his baby brother is married and has a child on the way…but…
“Perhaps you are correct,” Obi-Wan sighs, letting those thoughts go as he focuses on the point of today.
Cody gives Obi-Wan a friendly pat on his shoulder. “That’s the spirit. Future Obi-Wan can worry about that.”
The music changes to the song Obi-Wan picked for this moment and Cody holds his arm out. “Ready, General?”
Obi-Wan embraces the pang at the reminder that his father - who fathered him on a different adventure and took custody when Obi-Wan’s mother tried to drown him in a river…a long story for a different day - was not here.
He was still alive, just somewhere unreachable at the moment. He would turn up…eventually. If something was wrong, Obi-Wan, as Qui-Gon’s official emergency contact, would find out about it.
Obi-Wan pushes all thoughts about Qui-Gon to the side - this was a happy day, one his father couldn’t ruin - for once.
Instead, he straightens up and shoots Cody a genuine smile. “As I’ll ever be, my friend.”
And as he walks down the aisle and sees his Mandalorian waiting for him at the altar, his soon-to-be husband’s armour practically shining in the Alderaanian sunlight, he knows he has never been more ready.