Work Text:
Obi-Wan blinked as he stared at his watch. Was it really three in the morning? He groaned, shutting his laptop and sticking it haphazardly in his backpack, sticking half of his books in as well. The rest he stacked in his arms, absently noting that he really needed a bigger backpack, because this was the third time this week he would end up carrying half his books home.
He stood, stretching. The ‘pop, pop, pop’ of his back cracking was a fairly solid indicator that he’d been sitting hunched over his laptop for far too long.
A yawn escaped him, and he felt the night catch up to him in a rush. He needed to stop pulling all-nighters, but the deadline for his dissertation was coming up at an alarming rate and Obi-Wan still wasn’t done.
He moved to the door, nodding absently to the night-time librarian who undoubtedly wasn’t paid enough. But then, student employees never really were.
He turned the corner, trying to stifle another yawn and let out an embarrassing yelp as he ran right into someone, his books tumbling out of his arms and to the ground.
“Sorry, sorry!” He crouched down, trying to gather his books, looking up to see who he’d run into. He froze for a moment, his embarrassment compounding further as he realized that the man he’d run into was perhaps the most beautiful man he’d ever seen: warm, brown skin; amber eyes that looked like they’d caught the sun in their depths; and a soft, but still dazzling, smile.
“It’s all right,” the man said smoothly, crouching down to help Obi-Wan gather his books. His voice was beautiful too, like a summer night given voice.
It seemed dreadfully unfair that anyone could look like they had been born from the sun itself.
The man looked up, blinking at him in surprise and it took Obi-Wan one horrifying moment to realize he’d said that out loud.
“Sorry,” he blurted again. “Tired. Dissertation. Poetry.” With that garbled, half explanation he jerked to his feet and made the most ungraceful exit he’d ever made in his twenty-six years of life.
He made it halfway home before he realized that the man had still been holding two of Obi-Wan’s books when Obi-Wan had made his abrupt departure.
Hopefully, he’d just take them to the check-out desk and Obi-Wan could grab them tomorrow. Still, if there was any way he could have made a worse impression then that was it.
It was fine, he assured himself. He was never going to see the man again. Which was for the best, no matter how gorgeous the man had been.
His reassurances to himself didn’t even make it 24 hours.
“If I’m born from the sun itself, I’d say you were the personification of winter’s first snowfall as autumn slips away. Refreshing and beautiful.”
Obi-Wan froze at the voice—and the words—before slowly looking up. The man from the night before—or he supposed it was technically only this morning—was standing on the other side of the table, Obi-Wan’s two missing books in his arms.
“I’m so sorry,” Obi-Wan said again. “That was incredibly inappropriate of me last night. I am going to blame it entirely on sleep deprivation and the fact that I’ve been dissecting and discussing poetry used as an expression of love in the late 17th century.”
“Love?” the man asked, smile amused. “Is that what you were expressing?”
Obi-Wan wished that the ground would open up beneath him and swallow him whole. “Well, it’s not unusual for lust and love to blend into one another.” He closed his eyes because that had just made everything worse. “Not that I was lusting after you. Not that you’re not attractive—“ he cut himself off. “I’m sorry. I got home late, and then I had to teach a class at eight this morning. I’m still sleep-deprived, please ignore everything I just said.”
“Cody,” the man told him, sitting down across from him. Obi-Wan blinked, and the man must have seen his confusion. “You can call me Cody, and I’d really rather not ignore all that, if that’s all right.”
“Obi-Wan,” he managed weakly. “I swear I’m normally more put together than this.” Some people had even told him that he was eloquent, but clearly, they were liars.
“Obi-Wan,” Cody repeated, and Obi-Wan shivered at the way Cody said his name. “What do you say I take you out for a cup of coffee. You could use a break.” His lips quirked up into a teasing smile. “And as much as I’m enjoying your sleep-deprived conversations, I’d like to talk to you when you're a little more awake, too.”
Obi-Wan stared at him, not quite sure if he had heard that right. But Cody was still smiling at him, and he seemed genuine.
“I’d like that.”
Cody stood, and after a moment Obi-Wan followed suit, sticking his laptop and a few books in his backpack. He started gathering the rest into his arms, but Cody beat him to it. “Let me.”
Obi-Wan felt his heart jump in his chest. Oh no, he was absolutely going to get his heart broken by this man.
It was reason enough to end this now, before it could start.
But as Cody led him out of the library and to the campus coffee shop, Obi-Wan couldn’t help but hope that perhaps this time things would be different.
“What exactly are you making?” Obi-Wan asked, unable to help his nerves.
“You’ll see,” Cody said easily from where he stood at their kitchen table, knife in hand and his smile beautiful and just a little otherworldly. He’d been showing more and more of that otherworldliness the closer they’d gotten until it almost seemed normal. Only almost because Obi-Wan could never quite forget what Cody was.
“You’re enjoying yourself,” he muttered, only partially complaining. He was excited. Terrified. Nervous. And so very, very happy. All of that and more, all at once.
He got a laugh in response, and even a year later, Obi-Wan still thought that he sounded like a summer night. Though it made far more sense now that he knew what Cody was. “I’ve watched my brothers bring home their eternal companions for centuries, while I searched and searched. Now that I have found you, of course I’m going to enjoy the process of bringing you home.”
Cody—Ko’te, he’d told Obi-Wan once he’d revealed himself, but Obi-Wan would only ever let that name slip from his lips once Cody brought him home, where it’d be safe to use his name without endangering him—had told him only a little of the process of binding human and Fae. It didn’t help that what sources Obi-Wan could find about just how a person could be safely brought into the Land of the Fae were contradictory at best and completely non-existent at worse.
What the sources did agree on was that it was dangerous and foolish, that a human should never trust a Fae.
The warning had lurked in the back of Obi-Wan’s mind almost constantly. Yet here he was, watching Cody carefully slice strange fruit, dip them into a glaze, and then carefully place them on a tray.
Cody had already ground together purple flowers that he knew he wouldn’t find anywhere here in the mortal world to use as part of the dough.
Eat even a bite of food from the Land of the Fae and a person would be trapped there for eternity, bound to the Fae who’d fed them.
But watching Cody it didn’t seem like such a terrible thing. People bound themselves to one another all the time. Yes, perhaps it was a bit more permanent—and magical—than a traditional marriage, but Obi-Wan had never been one for half measures.
And when it came to the man that had made Obi-Wan feel wanted as no one had in Obi-Wan’s life… well, he thought he’d be a fool if he didn’t trust him.
He continued watching Cody cook, smiling when Cody started humming, the sound leaving Obi-Wan warm inside.
He’d asked Cody once if it was some sort of magic. Cody had laughed, eyes dancing with delight as he’d assured Obi-Wan it wasn’t. It was just Cody and the fact that Obi-Wan loved him so much that sometimes it hurt.
“You’ve said your goodbyes?” Cody asked as he wrapped the fruit in the pastry dough and placed it in the oven.
“Yes.” He would be able to return to the human world eventually, but it wouldn’t be for at least a century as he acclimated to the Land of the Fae, slowly changing so that he’d better match Cody. “There weren’t exactly all that many people to say goodbye to.”
Qui-Gon had died a long time ago, and even then, their relationship had been fraying there by the end. He had friends, of course, but their lives had all taken different turns, and he rarely saw them anymore. And then of course there had been Anakin. But it had been a long time since he and Anakin had been truly close. Anakin’s shotgun wedding and then Padme’s subsequent pregnancy had taken all of Anakin’s attention until Obi-Wan almost never saw him.
He’d given his friends and Anakin the same story. He’d gotten a position teaching poetry and baroque literature at a university in Europe, and would be leaving for Fall classes.
Cody paused, stepping around the counter to kiss him. “Well, you’ll have me, from now to forever, and there’ll be no need to say goodbye.”
Obi-Wan smiled into the kiss, before pulling back and resting his forehead against Cody’s. “Promises, promises.”
Cody pulled back. “You’ll also have all my family, but I’m not sure if that’s an encouragement or a warning.”
“If they're even half as amazing as you’ve described them, I can’t imagine I’ll be disappointed.”
Cody shrugged at that. “They’re right pests, and they’ll make you want to banish them for a century or two, but then you’ll miss them after a few decades and welcome them back.”
“Speaking from experience,” Obi-Wan teased.
“Maybe,” Cody admitted.
They stood like that a while longer, Cody wrapping an arm around his waist so they were leaning against each other.
The beep of the oven pulled them out of the moment, and Cody dropped a kiss on his cheek before stepping away.
The smell of the strange pastries was absolutely mouth-watering and Obi-Wan found himself taking in a deep breath. “Oh.” It smelled like dawn, like sunrise.
Cody looked smug as he carefully moved the pastries to a plate, moving back to Obi-Wan’s side.
“Are you ready?”
Obi-Wan didn’t even hesitate. “Yes. Always.”
“There’s no taking this back, Obi-Wan,” Cody warned, and for a moment he looked vulnerable. “There’s no undoing this sort of binding.”
He swallowed. “I want this. I want you. Forever.” He leaned into Cody’s side. “It’s forever for you, too. Do you want this?”
“I’ve never wanted anything more,” Cody whispered. “I’ve been waiting millennia for you, and I don’t want to wait a moment more.”
“Then don’t.”
For a moment they just stood there, a human and a Fae with nothing but their love binding them.
Cody picked up one of the pastries, taking a bite out of it before bringing it to Obi-Wan’s lips. Obi-Wan kept his gaze locked with Cody’s leaning forward just a little to take a bite.
It tasted like kissing Cody, like lazy mornings and passionate nights. It tasted the way his heart had jumped the first time he’d seen Cody and the way he’d stopped breathing when Cody asked him to be his forever.
He didn’t know how a pastry could taste like slices of the life they’d shared, but it did.
It tasted like a promise of the life they’d live. Together.
“I love you,” Obi-Wan whispered.
That was what the pastry tasted like. Like love. His for Cody, and Cody’s for him.
“I love you, too.” Cody set the pastry to the side, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close. “Are you ready to come home?”
“I am home.” And it was true. Wherever Cody was, that was home.
It always would be.