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Love, Obi-Wan had found, was a delicate balance to tread when one was a Jedi. One had to be able to balance their love for the Galaxy as a whole, for the Force, and for all living things, with their love of an individual person, thing, or idea. Obi-Wan had seen enough Holodramas to see what happened when even a non Jedi became overly attached to a single person, thing, or idea. Obsession, Obi-Wan thought, was a dangerous thing to have when one was a sentient, and even more dangerous when one was a sentient with great power and great responsibility.
Obi-Wan's first kiss happened when he was 14 years old. He and Quinlan had been in the Room of a Thousand Fountains after he had gotten back from Meldadaan. Quinlan had been, understandably, distraught that his friend, his best friend, had almost died, and it was there that Quinlan, scarcely a year older than he, had leaned over as they sat underneath their favorite tree, and kissed him straight on the lips. In hindsight, it was chaste, no tongue, simply a brushing of their lips, but to Obi-Wan, the moment had meant so much to him.
Quinlan was quite a beautiful person, even at 14 years old Obi-Wan was not blind that he couldn't see such a thing. His gold tattoos complemented his skin perfectly, the warm dark brown almost like Alderaan chocolate, the gold beads in his hair, and on his Padawan braid clinking and shining in the sun. His Force presence was like a wild jungle, full of teetering wildlife, towering trees, rushing rivers and waterfalls, a constant flow of energy that twined and circled around Obi-Wan's own presence in the Force. Quinlan was quite strong, years of training as a Jedi and practicing saber work had made it easy for the Kifar to lift Obi-Wan up into his arms and spin him around at random. His laugh was loud, but playful, able to warm Obi-Wan’s heart when he was feeling sad.
They had dated for a while, him and Quinlan, for a little over a year, the two of them had been happy together, getting to go on a couple of joint missions with their masters, enjoying their time off, and generally enjoying the light, playful, flirtatious nature of their youthful relationship. After a couple of months, however, Obi-Wan began to think, really think, about what he would want from a relationship in the long term. As any good Jedi would, Obi-Wan meditated on the issue, and after a while, he came to a conclusion. Obi-Wan knew that he did not quite yet have the maturity, emotionally that is, to fully be able to balance the life of a Jedi with any sort of romantic relationship. Furthermore, as much as Obi-Wan loved Quinlan, he realized that, deep down, he saw him as more of a brother, an annoying, hyperactive older brother, but a brother nonetheless. They broke up on positive terms, Their relationship remains strong, but as brothers, friends, and mission partners, rather than as romantic partners.
Obi-Wan's next encounter with a more romantic side of love happened less than a year later when he had to protect Satine from Death Watch while on the run together. It truly was straight out of some sort of crappy romance plot, the running from the bad guys, the damsel in distress, and the sharing of a single bed. He and Satine had gotten on well enough, joking and laughing in the times that they could, and to an extent, they were even able to get along in terms of their philosophy, both of them wanted peace for the galaxy, although the two of them had very different ways of how that peace could be achieved.
Her hair was a beautiful golden blonde, and even on the run, she kept it braided and pinned as intricately as she could. her piercing blue eyes were like the sky, shining and beautiful especially when she became passionate about whatever she spoke of. Compared to Quinlan, she was quite delicate, her hands free of calluses, though Obi-Wan was no fool, and he knew the Satine was tougher than she looked. Her Force presence was like the desert, vast and wide however at the center was a contained ball of energy, full of hope, ideas and a passion for peace, towering like the cities that were contained within the domes on Mandalore's surface.
They had kissed a few times, it even evolved into the use of tongue and a couple of wandering hands, but it never really went beyond that. similarly, their relationship remained quite shallow in terms of romantic compatibility. Obi-Wan felt that they could be good friends, although he was a bit concerned with Satine's obsession with the restructuring of Mandalorian culture, but Obi-Wan wasn't quite sure, as he boarded the ship back to Coruscant, if Satine was what he was looking for in a romantic relationship. There were times when he had felt that, had she said the word, he would have left the Jedi order, but other times he felt that the relationship was simply a bit too stifling, and found he preferred the more relaxed playful friendly bond that they had shared earlier.
After Satine, Obi-Wan didn't really bond with anyone in a romantic sense, not even playfully. Certainly, flirting became a part of his fighting tactics, in order to throw off his opponents and distract them, and it truly was quite an effective tactic. But it wasn't until he met his Commander that he finally began to feel a spark of what could potentially be a beautiful blossoming romantic relationship.
Cody, how could Obi-Wan even begin to describe this wonderful, competent, incredible sentient being that was his commander? Cody was kind, to his vode, to Obi-Wan, to Anakin, and later Ahsoka, he was kind to the civilians that he helped rescue, and even to those who didn't deserve it, Cody still managed to show a level of respect that showed just how professional his commander was in the line of duty.
Even among a sea of Jango Fett's clones, Obi-Wan would be able to pick out Cody. even blindfolded, Obi-Wan would be able to pick out his beloved commander. Cody's presence in the Force shined like a sunrise on the horizon, warm and beautiful with golds and oranges and yellows and reds painting the sky with the hope of a new day. His smile, rare as it was, never failed to make Obi-Wan smile in return. His hair almost rarely made it out of the regulation cut, but when they did, Obi-Wan could faintly see the curls that began to appear as the length grew. His jokes never failed to make him laugh, and when Cody himself laughed, his eyes would crinkle in such a way that worked the scar around his left eye, in an endearing way that made Obi-Wan want to reach out and kiss it.
Truly, Obi-Wan had never felt so connected to a person then he did with his commander. Alas, such was his fate, that the one person he could see being in a romantic relationship with, was out of his reach. Not only would it be a horrible breach of ethics to date one of his men, even as close in rank as they were, but the clone's legal status was still very much up in the air, no matter how much Padme, Bail, Riyo and a few other Senators fought for them.
Still, deep down as he worked with Padme and Bail and the others to secure the clone's legal rights, after every meeting with his officers, every time that he and Cody wished each other good night, every shared meal every shared smile, and every joke that passed that made them laugh, Obi-Wan slowly began to promise himself, after the war. Perhaps, after the war.