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Obi-Wan believed things were going swimmingly until the escape pod started falling.
It may be difficult to believe, as the destruction of the Negotiator was indeed a devastating loss, for the Republic, for his men, and for himself. It had been necessary, to prevent Grievous from acquiring critical intel. The ship was lost, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that he'd made the right call.
There was, of course, little he could do about it looking only in hindsight.
Ruminating on how he got he was a welcome distraction from current circumstances, however.
"Boba and I could've fit just fine in our own escape pod," Obi-Wan's current headache scowled as he took off his helmet.
He scoffed at that. Foolish man. "As I recall, at the time you were set on fighting your way back to your own ship, despite the imminent self-destruct sequence."
"We would have made it," Jango glared at Obi-Wan's snort of disbelief, "and now you owe me a ship. Do you know how hard it was to get those di'kut'la admirals to give me a Republic freighter? They didn't believe me that Slave 1 was too recognizable."
"I believe you also argued that it was so Boba would have a stable place to live and decidedly not be in combat zones."
Jango looked unrepentant, "He snuck aboard."
"I'm sure."
"We were rescuing ade, I didn't think the whole kriffing cruiser was going to be under fire."
"That distress call was received three days after you both came aboard."
He narrowed his eyes at Obi-Wan, a calculating look that wasn't allowed to be attractive. Weighing what answer he could get away with. Obi-Wan tried not to be too eager to shoot down whatever came in the next volley.
"Fine," Jango surprised Obi-Wan by admitting with a shrug, "I knew this campaign would be longer than the last one, and I didn't want to leave him alone for so long."
Perhaps it was still a calculated answer, but it was also an honest one.
It was moments like this that Obi-Wan reflected on later, wondering if perhaps everything in his life would've been easier if he'd grown feelings for someone less jaded and ruthless than Jango Fett. Surely it would have been better to rekindle things with Satine, or even harbor a crush for the steadfast Commander Cody, both of whom had similar moral values to himself and a level of responsibility and dedication that could be worthy of admiration. It would be understandable, justifiable.
And far more ignorable.
For all his faults, Jango was not someone who could be dismissed. More often than not, he spat his words out like acid, or perhaps more like poison. He was uncooperative, churlish, and arrogant.
He never made friends, and he never apologized, not for the lives he took nor for the orders he gave.
But he was fiercely protective of Boba, and he refused to let any trooper be sent back to Kamino. Why, he also refused to say.
While, yes, he and his clones fit a certain standard of beauty in appearance, this was not the aspect that had forced Obi-Wan admit that the man was attractive.
It was that the man schemed. Always, and for every occasion, he was making and discarding plans and tactics and, unfortunately, this was what Obi-Wan found utterly fascinating about him. By all accounts, theirs would be an ill-fitted match, even if it was reciprocal. Alas, it was to his own dismay that the feelings he had were only becoming larger and more unwieldy.
The only way he could describe it was that he wished he could pick apart this man the same way that he could deconstruct a lightsaber, if only so that he could peer inside and find out exactly what made him tick.
It was not love or compassion that drove their verbal jousts to heights that others found concerning. And it was not empathy that called Obi-Wan to press closer, to see just how close Jango would let him get.
The man was infuriating. And dangerous, by any definition of the word.
Obi-Wan often had the urge to bite him, which would be completely unbecoming of a Jedi of his rank.
Now, they were stuck together in an enclosed space, close enough that Obi-Wan could reach out and touch. Waiting for rescue, as their escape pod entered a decaying orbit around the closest planet.
Obi-Wan hoped that Cody fared better in the pod that the man had dragged Boba into, when the Fett duo had made it clear they wouldn't be following protocol willingly. If they had not been practically tackled into their respective pods, there was a real chance that they would be dead by now. Obi-Wan was rather thankful that was not the case.
All this was to say that he was entirely foolish to let the words soften him, and yet…
"Perhaps he will enjoy meeting the Initiates once they've been retrieved," Obi-Wan smiled, "I believe they are only a year or two older than Boba."
Jango sent him an incredulous look, "Shouldn't you be more worried that your precious 'initiates' won't be rescued with all of us out of commission?"
Obi-Wan waved a hand, not quite blazé, but approaching it. "Last I had heard, Hondo was with them, so they should be relatively safe. Also, it's not as if I can assist them now. My energy is better focused on ensuring our own survival, if I am to continue on to assist them."
"…Hondo Ohnaka has your ade, and you're not a bit concerned."
He rubbed a hand across his chin, thinking for a moment. "Oh, I expect that if they do not escape him themselves then we will happily pay him for their ransom, but, having been in Hondo's care myself at one point, I highly doubt that he has interest in killing them. It'd be bad for business, as he likes to put it."
That earned him a look like Jango thought he was somewhat insane. Obi-Wan was sure that his own smile did not help matters. Hondo was certainly a character, not to be trifled with, but not particularly malicious or sadistic in nature.
"I suppose you don't trust him, despite his claims that you're on quite friendly terms?"
Jango snorted, "'Friends' for Ohnaka is anyone who doesn't shoot him on sight. I'm not surprised he managed to kidnap you, since you trust anything that smiles in your direction."
"Well that's hardly true," Obi-Wan bit back a grin of his own, "I don't believe you've ever smiled, and yet I manage to trust you well enough."
To that, Jango simply rolled his eyes, clearly thinking that the Jedi was a moron for doing so, but knowing it wasn't in his own best interest to argue against it.
The nature of their pod being caught by a planet's gravity meant the two of them were not simply floating, as they would in empty space, but were lightly drifting towards one side of the craft. In the entirely likely event that they crash landed, it would be an uncomfortable but survivable ordeal.
Until then, it meant that Obi-Wan, being lighter than the man wearing durasteel, unconsciously drifted further into Jango's personal space than he had ever dared. He did not call attention to it.
And if, when they began to enter the planet's atmosphere, he took a breath to memorize what it felt like to be pressed up against Jango—well, that was nobody's business but his own.