Just for a minute,
all of the orbits in his universe would still. Exploding novas, lost out there in the black ink of space, would pause.
Just for a minute,
galactic battles suddenly found peace, and the similar feud he often had with himself would dissipate, only to be replaced with a blissful quietness.
Just for a minute,
his mind lost its grip on the Jedi Code, usually so carefully guarded (though never closely followed), and he found himself loving her far past capacity.
When Anakin kissed Padmé, every single time their lips met, every planet he'd visited and every star he'd flown past in the galaxy became irrelevant. Years of carefully training and nurturing his mind under Obi-Wan's teachings suddenly became difficult to access, like they'd been sealed off to make way for a better way of living: never out of range from Padmé's touch.
She was poison. A fine poison. A toxin that had remained in him since his eyes first met hers, surrounded by the dusty backdrop of Tatooine; one that stayed and boiled around his mind even after she and him parted for nearly eleven years. All that time living with that venom wasn't nearly enough to prepare Anakin for the downpour when he saw Padmé again.
"Ani? My, how you've grown!"
Suddenly he was drowning.
When Anakin kissed Padmé, only for just a minute within the marble halls of Coruscant's most elaborate structures, everything he knew fell away from him- only to be picked up again as tenderly as the roll of her lips against his. Any worry or restrain that sprouted from the caution of keeping their relationship a secret was better off having never crossed their minds, because nothing else mattered when Anakin could hold Padmé in his arms.
'You're being rash and selfish,' a voice in the back of Anakin's mind used to say, 'you'd be a fool to continue blatantly turning from the code.' Over time, Anakin grew deaf to that voice. Obi-Wan's warnings in reality were a close cousin to the nagging presence, but even the mentor became less of a threat when Anakin began seeing Padmé more.
Padmé changed from a steady, racking toxicant to a satire antidote. She was pain, masked in a beautiful illusion. Being assigned to keep watch over the senator was more than Anakin would've ever hoped for. It was uncomfortable to be so stunted back in Coruscant, protecting Padmé from the looming threat of an assassin while close under the wings of Obi-Wan. The Jedi had sensed Anakin's disrupture long before the elevator ride to the madam's apartment. The young man's turmoil never went unnoticed.
Up until then, every passing day, Padmé was agonizing.
In Naboo, out from the restraints of the harsh city and politics of Coruscant, Padmé was still pain- but there, at the lake house, she was also rapture.
