A/N: Well this was actually writen as a Valentine's Day fic. It's obviously kinda late...IDK why I didn't think of putting it up here yesterday since I did have it up on LJ. Anyway here is my little belated Obi/Ani V-Day fic.
"I'm sorry, Obi-Wan"
Garen looked extremely nervous and even regretful as the words slipped out so freely. He wasn't really sorry, Obi-Wan knew. Not for walking away. Maybe he was sorry that he was hurting him, that things were turning out this way, but he wasn't sorry for leaving. Obi-Wan rubbed a hand over his face with a weary sigh. "Tell me why, Garen. Please. I just want to know why."
Garen shifted from foot to foot, he didn't dare meet Obi-Wan's eyes.
"Is there someone knew?" Obi-Wan prompted softly, preparing himself for the onslaught of jealous pain he knew would follow.
"Yes—No—Yes—Ah, Obi-Wan, please this isn't easy for me ether!"
"Not easy for you? Garen, I just want to know why, that's all I want…"
"I figured out that I'm straight."
"You…you what?" Obi-Wan looked at Garen with a stunned expression, not sure what to say.
"I…" Garen looked away again, his cheeks growing red. "I wasn't sure…and when you offered I thought it would be a good chance for me to find out."
For a moment Obi-Wan couldn't find the strength in himself to speak. He had been used! Blatantly used… "I thought you loved me…"
"I didn't want to hurt you by saying no. It was the best for the both of us," Garen rattled out quickly – guiltily. "You got what you wanted and I got a chance to understand myself more fully."
"Didn't want to hurt me? Garen, you USED me! How is that not hurting me?"
"Obi-Wan, I'm sorry," was all the young man could say. "I should have left after our first…ah…night…three months ago. But you were so happy…I jus couldn't."
"Please leave," Obi-Wan said quietly but firmly.
Garen stepped forward and tried to touch his shoulder but Obi-Wan pulled away. Garen sighed and walked out of the sleeping quarters leaving Obi-Wan to face the deafening silence.
Obi-Wan staged over to the couch and dropped his head in his hands as he heard the door to the quarters swoosh shut. In the silenced of the room he could hear his heart breaking.
Anakin Skywalker was in a good mood. Or at least as good a mood as he could be expected to be in given the current circumstances. Which, on second thought, wasn't so good on a general scale. Valentine's Day was in a couple of days and all everyone could talk about was the party that the young knights would be throwing. A supposedly incognito affair that no Jedi Council Master was supposed to know about. But, typically, everyone knew. Anakin was a little sick of all the talk about cards, candy, dates, and the approaching wild party. He would be going of course. Obi-Wan and Garen would most likely want the quarters to themselves and he could at least un-wind a little. Maybe he could get that little bitch Ferus to show a little skin. It would be a sex site, he wouldn't lie. But that wasn't what he wanted. However, it would be a more or less effective way to forget about what was probably happening back in his shared quarters with Obi-Wan.
Anakin really didn't know why Obi-Wan hadn't kicked him out yet. He should have moved out after his knighting and once Obi-Wan started dating Garen about half a year ago Anakin was sure that he would have to leave. He even offered to do so himself.
"No, Anakin. It's alright really. I don't want you to move out…it wouldn't be the same without you."
Anakin could feel the small smiled that blossomed on his face at the memory. His hopes had been high for a few days but when he saw the way Obi-Wan looked at Garen everything seemed to melt away into a big smoldering heap of jealousy and pain.
Anakin reached his quarters and palmed the door open. "Hey, Obi-Wan, it's me," Anakin called to his best friend, sensing that Obi-Wan was in the apartment.
"Hello, Anakin," Obi-Wan's voice carried from the common room. Anakin frowned. Obi-Wan sounded all weird, as though someone was strangling him.
"Hey about V-Day," Anakin continued. "You and Garen want the quarters to yourself right? Or are you guys going ou—" Anakin stopped abruptly when he spotted Obi-Wan. The older Jedi was sitting on the couch, his shoulders slumped and his head in his hands. He had visibly flinched when Anakin had mentioned Garen. "Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked tentatively. He stepped forward and knelt before the other Jedi. "Are you alright?"
Obi-Wan took his hands away from his face and looked up at a rather concerned Anakin. He tried to smile but it came out forced and superficial. "I'm afraid there won't be much of a Valentine for me, Anakin." He blinked rapidly, trying to hide the tears that glistened in his eyes.
"Why? What happened?" Anakin took Obi-Wan's hands in his, looking into the other man's eyes with a gentle, sympathetic gaze.
"Garen left."
"Left?"
"Yes, left. It's over between us."
"What! Why?" Anakin couldn't believe it. How could Garen leave Obi-Wan two days before Valentine 's Day? Seriously! Couldn't the little ass wait a few more days? Was that really so much to ask?
"He said…that I wasn't his type," It wasn't a complete lie.
"Force! I can't believe he left you right before Valentine 's Day. I'm so sorry, Obi-Wan. I know how much you were looking forward to spending the night with him." Anakin shook his head from side to side sadly, wondering to himself what kind of heartless idiot would leave someone right before such a holiday as Valentine's. He squeezed Obi-Wan's hand in sympathetic comfort, wracking his mind for what he could possibly say or do that could help.
Obi-Wan looked into Anakin's eyes. That look in them, so loving and open. So sympathetic and gentle. It made his want to just drop all his shields and cry. He wanted to open up to Anakin, to tell him all about how he had been used by someone he had considered a good friend for long before they had started dating. But he knew that he would later regret it. Something inside him didn't want Anakin to see this "in love with Garen" side of himself. He didn't know why. But some part of him didn't want Anakin to think of him as week. He didn't want to burden Anakin with his problems, the boy didn't deserve that. "I'm going out, Anakin." And before Anakin could protest Obi-Wan had swept out of the apartment.
That night Obi-Wan came home splendidly drunk and Anakin had found himself entrusted with the task of putting his rather unstable-on-his-feet best friend to bed.
Anakin tucked him in and was about to leave when Obi-Wan grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Obi-Wan?"
Obi-Wan looked at him in that drunkenly pleading way that made Anakin feel like he would do anything for him. "Stay wit' me. I don' wanna be 'lone tonight."
Anakin nodded. "Ok, Master." He settled down on the edge of the bed and put his arm around Obi-Wan's waist and waited until the older Jedi had drifted off to sleep before getting up and leaving the room quietly.
He sighed as he made his way back to his own room. He had to find a way to make this easier for Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan had gone out early on Valentine's Day, leaving only a simple card for Anakin on the kitchen table.
Anakin,
Happy Valentine's Day!
You are a great friend and you mean a lot to me. Thank you for always being there.
I hope you have fun at the party tonight.
Obi-Wan
Anakin shook his head dejectedly. He knew that Obi-Wan would be out all day, meditating or sulking. Could be ether one, really. Then he'd come home that night, put on some old sappy holofilm and eat too many cupcakes with pink frosting.
It didn't sound like much of an evening to Anakin. How could he have fun at the party when he knew he was leaving Obi-Wan to such a dull and lonely night? Tonight of all nights! He glanced back down at the card.
Thank you for always being there.
Suddenly the party wasn't an option anymore.
Obi-Wan spent the day mostly alone. He dropped by to see Siri, Bant, and Quin to give them there Valentine's before stocking off to the Gardens to meditate.
There was a strange sense of romantics in the air and in the Force that hummed all around it. Not only that but his meditations were often interrupted by various couples of young padawan's, and even a few knights, who were seeking some privacy in the quieter corners of the gardens. Initiates and Junior Padawans had made rounds the other day to hang pink, red, and white, ribbons on the trees.
All of this annoyed Obi-Wan. He tried to release his feelings into the Force but couldn't seem to concentrate for long enough. The whole things left him far more wound up and emotionally drained than it really should have; he had actually expected the opposite.
Obi-Wan was full on expecting to find the quarters empty and to spend the rest of the evening watching some sappy old holofilm that he had watched hundreds of times before. When he sensed Anakin's presents inside their apartment he had to wonder why his young friend wasn't at the bash.
Whatever…
Obi-Wan palmed the door open and slid into the apartment. The sight that greeted him left him slightly breathless for some time.
The lights were off and the room was lit solely by candles, the soft yellow flames flickering timidly and leaving elongated shadows on the walls. Obi-Wan sniffed curiously and sighed happily. Vanilla…he loved that smell. But really what was this?
He proceeded into the common room, half expecting to intrude on some highly disturbing scene involving his former padawan.
Anakin, was in fact, standing in the center of the room. But he was alone, dressed in black pants that hugged his hips and a loose, silk, black tunic. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said happily with a smile.
"I like what you've done with the place…Anakin what is this?"
Anakin was still smiling. "Our Valentine's night of course! What does it look like, silly?"
"I…thought you were going to the party. Weren't you?"
"And leave you here to sulk? Nah-ah."
"I don't sulk!"
Anakin smile broadened at their familiar teasing. "Come on. Knowing you, you probably haven't eaten all day."
Obi-Wan was suddenly aware that he in fact was rather hungry. "One for Anakin," Obi-Wan agreed as he followed his friend into the kitchen.
The dinner table was set already, presenting Obi-Wan with another unconventional sight. It looked like something from an expensive restaurant. Anakin had even bothered to put a table cloth on the table and light another couple of candles, these ones long and slender. "Since when do you cook, Anakin?" It wasn't that Anakin COULDN'T cook, he simply never had enough patience to do it right.
"I do apply myself in things other then lightsaber training, Master."
"That's a first."
"Hey!" Anakin swatted playfully at Obi-Wan.
They sat down to dinner and slowly Obi-Wan began to relax, letting Anakin do most of the talking as he did most of the eating. He didn't even realize how hungry he was. The whole thing still seemed surreal. It was amazing how everything fit together. He didn't even know that Anakin paid so much attention to detail. Like the way Obi-Wan preferred vanilla over chocolate, red wine over white, dark chocolate over milk chocolate, red over that insatiable pink, Braze nuts over Terris nuts, and a bunch of other things. Garen had never really considered these things it seemed. He didn't even know if Garen knew these things at all. They were only silly details, really, but just the idea that Anakin had noticed – had cared enough to notice – was quite nice to say the least.
They had ice cream with desert liquor – Noobian, just as Obi-Wan liked it. And when Anakin put on Phil Anges, a classic singer from Terris-Bressa, softly in the back ground, Obi-Wan started wondering if maybe all of this was a dream.
"Come on lets dance," Anakin offered getting up.
Obi-Wan hesitated but only for a moment. Anakin looked so…perfect; standing there with one hand outstretched toward him, blond curls tickling his chin, glowing a soft gold in the candle light.
They danced to the soft music for a while, talking at first but then falling silent as to enjoy the moment. Finally, Obi-Wan spoke up. "Anakin?"
"Hmm?"
"This whole evening…it was really amazing."
"Hm…I was hoping you'd like your present."
"Oh…yes…now I feel cheep with my stupid card."
"I don't care, Obi-Wan. Besides it's the thought that counts right?"
"Yes." And Anakin had obviously put a lot thought into this.
"Do you feel better now?"
"What?"
"I was hoping that this would kind of…relax you. You've been so down for the past couple of days. I didn't want you to be alone tonight and sulk."
"I don't sulk."
"Whatever you say, Master."
"Thank you, Anakin. Really…I'm starting to think you know me better then Garen ever did."
Anakin looked down with a small, shy smile, his blue eyes dancing in the candle light.
"I can't believe that you'd actually go through all of this for me."
"I'm not as selfless as you think, Master."
"Anakin, what—"
It happened without warning, without any president. Anakin's lips were pressed against his, and before he knew it he was kissing Anakin back. They let the moment drag on, the soft, gentle kiss lingering for a few long moments. Hey withdrew and stared into each other's eyes, clear skies meeting stormy seas. Obi-Wan wasn't sure why – maybe because he was somewhat drunk – but he quickly that he wanted more. More of that warmth and gentleness that he had never felt before. Not even with Garen. They kissed again, swaying to the soft melody of the old-fashion songs playing in the background and with the candle light enveloping them in its soft golden glow.
Somewhere in the back of their minds they both understood that in the morning this could become nothing but a pleasant dream. But for now it was perfect. For now it was love.
If only for tonight…