Day 3: “Shut Up” Kiss
Track: 'Saving Grace' - Kodaline
(Spotify / YouTube)
Quinlan was rambling about something or other to do with saving Obi-Wan’s ass, but Obi-Wan knew it was more a deflection of his worry. It didn’t exactly stop him from spiralling though, and after a few minutes of half exhausted quips in between Quinlan’s panic, Obi-Wan decided he was too tired and too relieved and too happy at seeing Quinlan to let him go on any longer.
And besides, he did owe Quin a thank you for saving his ass.
Glad you asked! QuinObi week is a time to celebrate the relationship between Quinlan Vos and Obi-Wan Kenobi. For the purposes of this week, this is defined as:
Committed romantic and/or sexual relationship
Best friends with benefits
Queerplatonic partners
Essentially, just anything that has the pair of them as something in addition to friends, whether they're your more traditional romantic/sexual partners, FWB, platonic partners, QPPs, etc. There is a good amount of best friend content for them (which I love!) but I'm hoping to encourage more shippy content with this event.
When is QuinObi Week?
It will run this year from September 15th-19th.
What Can I Make?
Anything! Fic, art, graphics, playlists, anything that makes you happy!
And you don't have to participate every day to participate! Feel free to do one day, all five, or anything in-between.
Is NSFW Content Welcome?
Yes! Absolutely.
Prompts
I have a few prompts in mind to inspire folks, but they are optional! There are three for each day so you can pick and choose (or combine!) AUs of any sort are also very welcome!
Day 1: Kiffar culture / Kyber crystals / Raising Anakin and Aayla
Day 2: No O66 / Sith artifacts / With a Little Help From Their Friends
Day 3: Life Day / First kiss / First time
Day 4: Undercover / Arguments / Tough mission
Day 5: Cuddling and comfort / Padawan crush / Tholme and Qui-Gon
Who is Your Mod?
I'm Katie! Someone once said "she carries QuinObi on her back" and I'm happy to do so! You can find my blog here and my Ao3 here. I'm the author of many fics that center and/or include QuinObi. I also have a QuinObi discord with a great crew of folks, so if you'd like to join, just ping me for the invite. I'm very friendly, so don't be shy. Feel free to ask me any questions at all! <3
QuinObi week isn't until October, but like I did last year, I wanted to drop some of my favorite QuinObi fics to get y'all excited! This list is not exhaustive, just a starter, but I hope you'll enjoy!
Hush by @violentcheese: a gorgeous Padawan first kiss fic! Made me a bit teary, tbh.
Don't Waste Your Treat by @ninjigma: Obi-Wan and Quinlan are on a diplomatic mission. They bicker over a popsicle and are very into each other. This fic had me sweating. <3
Flu Season by @coruscantrhapsody: Padawan Obi-Wan has a huge crush on Quin (which is definitely returned). A QuinObi Week 2023 fic by my bestie
Reach For My Hand by jelucan: Quinlan was presumed dead but it turns out he wasn't. He and Obi-Wan wander through Coruscant and have feelings. This is one of my personal fave fics for these two.
With a Little Help From My Friends by @palfriendpatine66: Quin, Obi-Wan, and Siri are best-friends-with-benefits. A piece from last year's QuinObi week that I adored!
On Your Best Behavior by wanderingjedihistorian: Obi-Wan and Quinlan accidentally get married on a mission. Why not have a wedding night?
To Our Halcyon Days by @lothcatthree and @krispyscreams: Obi-Wan and Quin reunite during the empire when Quin finds out their son Cal is alive. A great and super romantic multi-chapter!!
Shaking From Holding You Back by @ashinaburrito: Obi-Wan rips Tarkin a new one when he's rude to Cody, and Quinlan thinks that's hot. Smut ensues in a closet.
Counting to Coruscant by @fanfic-phoenix. This whole series is WONDERFUL and has everything from Padawan Obi-Wan and Quinlan to their lives during the war (and the moments of romance they're able to snag) to the aftermath of Rako Hardeen. Super super recommend!
Red and Orange Beacons Go Forth by @ashinaburrito: Quinlan gets caught in a psychometric vision and Aayla calls Obi-Wan for help.
Betrayal by @brachiosaurus-on: Obi-Wan and Quinlan reunite in the OWK show era. Beautiful, Beatiful fic.
Ride Around the Moon for a Velvet Kiss by blackkat: Snarky and wonderfully in character smut set during the Clone Wars.
Stumbling on the Way Home by CapGirlCanuck: a comics based one-shot that pays homage to Obi-Wan and Quinlan's long friendship. Lovely.
The Beach by @lilywhoisapotato: Stranded on an uninhabited planet, Obi-Wan blames himself for their predicament. Luckily, Quinlan knows how to cheer him up.
Liability by KCKenobi: Quinlan takes care of Obi-Wan after Qui-Gon's death.
Everything They Shouldn't Be by @noncanonship: After Obi-Wan's Starfighter suffers an unplanned fall out of hyperspace, he finds himself stranded near Karfeddion, exactly where Quinlan Vos is on a longterm undercover mission. Obi-Wan intends to avoid Quinlan in order to protect his cover, but the Force has other plans.
I'm going to be annoying and include a few of my own QuinObi fics (there are many because I love these two but I won't list them all):
Kill the Lights: Fix-it that centers on changing the Fives incident in TCW. Quinlan searches for a captive Obi-Wan with Anakin, Padme, and the Jedi's help. Featuring huge amounts of QuinObi (with lore I created based lightly off the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, but happier in the end).
Blood Makes Noise: My QuinObi-centric AIDS Crisis AU set in 80s/90s New York.
After the War (Part the First): It's Quinlan who goes on the Rako Hardeen mission.
After the War (Part the Second): Obi-Wan and Quin reunite via the Hidden Path
Always a Little in Love: Post-Geonosis. Quinlan bursts into Obi-Wan's room to yell at him for almost getting killed. Obi-Wan wants to forget about the war in it's infancy. Feelsy smut ensues.
Forty Years of Knowing: Obi-Wan and Quin commit to each other and extremely tender smut happens. Set in my RoTS fix-it verse but can be read on it's own.
Shoulder the Sky Verse: My RoTS Fix-It verse, including the initial RoTS AU of the same name, and it's sequel, Whispers from the Dead, as well as several one-shots. STS features QuinObi friends-with-benefits-to-exclusivity and WFTD has them in a committed relationship (and said relationship is a big part of the fic).
i had hoped to do all the prompts for @quinobievents but in the end my recovery took longer than expected and i only really had the energy to finish up one prompt :(
proud i managed one but i was looking forward to writing more, i had IDEAS
still hope ya'll enjoy!
(ao3)
Warnings: references to depression and ptsd
“I doubt the council can spare you during this tumultuous time,” Quinlan said, tone a little too sharp, he didn’t mean for it to be though. That seemed to be most of his interactions of late, just a little too much despite his best intentions. Too sharp, too angry, too callous, just…too much. He winced, the words of an apology stuck somewhere in the back of his throat, gagging him when he tried to speak them. Remorse was a weakness to the Dark Side after all.
He wished he could remember the strength he had to pull himself back from the dark, to use it now to combat the lingering shadows that curled around him like clinging fog. But it was gone, used up in one spectacular return to the light and nothing had filled that void since.
Obi-Wan didn’t appear to take his words to heart though, he just continued to pack at a leisurely pace, undisturbed by Quinlan’s twitchy hovering, “They can’t, they denied my request for leave.”
Quinlan eyed the robes and clothes that Obi-Wan was rolling into tight coils to better fit in his small pack, none of them were Quin’s, his bag was already packed and leant against the wall by the door. He lifted a confused eyebrow, “And yet, packing?”
“As you and my former Padawan are so often prone to do, I will be ignoring direct orders from the council and will deal with the consequences once we’ve returned from Jedha,” Obi-Wan said stuffing his pack a little harsher than he would probably allow himself to show outside of their shared space, a subtle glimpse of the frustrations that he carried these days.
Quinlan wanted to tease, to smirk and waggle his eyebrows with a comment along the lines of ‘rubbing off on him’ or something equally ridiculous that would earn him one of those rare fond smiles of Obes’ as he rolled his eyes and tried not to laugh. But he couldn’t find the energy or the desire to do so. That well had run dry a long time ago and in the darkest and longest nights when sleep truly evaded him and the fears crept in to whisper in his ears, he was terrified it always would be. That his old self was well and truly lost and this husk left behind would be all he was from here on out.
These days he avoided looking in the mirror, the hollowness in his eyes that hadn’t lifted even months after his return was starting to make him panic. The last thing Quinlan needed was to add lung-clenching anxiety on top of the empty feeling in his chest. He already felt like a stiff breeze would send him floating off into the stratosphere with no care to his own demise, he knew with all certainty that the fear that would strangle the remaining air from his throat wouldn’t anchor him anymore than the soft spoken words of the mind-healer he’d been assigned. Neera had tried their best, really they had, and Quinlan had even been diligent in specifically not avoiding their sessions, even communicating openly with them where he would have previously ducked and weaved like he was on a battlefield rather then an office in the temple ignoring the question ‘how are you?’.
It hadn’t helped really. Nothing had and now he was heading to Jedha in what felt like a last ditch attempt to fix what the darkside had broken.
“You realise my stay in Jedha might be permanent?” Quinlan instead said giving a small voice to his underlying fears. Though the council held faith that a long stay in the healing halls of a temple built on top of kyber crystals would ease the deep psychological wounds his time soaked in the Dark Side had left, Quinlan wasn’t so optimistic.
Frankly he wasn’t the only Jedi shipping off to distant temples to regain some measure of lost peace. So many were burned out, broken down and exhausted in their very souls from the war, he would have a great deal of company in his new path of meditation and quiet contemplation far from the Republic that had used them up and nearly thrown them to a bloody Sith Lord. Quinlan just dreaded that there might not be an end date to that quiet convalescence, that his years as a Shadow were at an end. He wasn’t ready to face that potential truth just yet or perhaps ever.
Obi-Wan, as per usual, sensed the rising terror within his partner and put aside his pack, stepping in close to Quinlan, waiting for some unseen tell that only he knew to breach the boundary that no one else was allowed to surmount. Quinlan forced himself to relax a little against the wall, welcoming his lover into his space with a clinging need, despite how awkward it felt now to reach out for that intimacy, just another thing that had been taken from him.
Obi-Wan closed the meagre distance without hesitation, tapping their foreheads together like they used to years ago as two overzealous and energy fuelled Padawan’s with no fear and so much hope it burned to remember.
“Then I will simply never face the consequences for abandoning Mace to deal with the council alone,” Obi-Wan whispered, his lips twitching in a smile that urged Quinlan’s own.
“I’m a bad influence on you,” Quinlan said, the joke falling a little flat to the weight of the blood and shadows caked into his skin like a permanent stain.
“I’m sure Anakin would take some of that blame but frankly we both know all his bad habits he had to learn somewhere,” Obi-Wan replied, the words would easily a tease but like his own there was too much grief under them to truly allow them to laugh freely.
So much had changed in such a short period of time. It hardly felt fair to look at them both now and remember how even just a handful of years previous how much lighter and carefree they were.
Now they were weighed down by the horrors of war and the machinations of a Sith Lord that had almost seen to the end of the Jedi.
Quinlan could trace the cares and woe in the deep frown lines that had developed in Obes forehead, the sprinkling of silver in his hair, grey before his time and despite the strained laughter joking it was his Padawan’s fault, Quin knew that battlefield stress had been the real reason. His own dark dreads were now threaded with silver for the same reason, old clothes were looser around his shoulders as much as his waist and his stress wrinkles now outnumbered his laugh lines. The physical was easy to map, the mental they carried far deeper and out of sight of everybody else but each other.
No one else was allowed to glimpse at the festering wound deep in Quin’s chest, infected and throbbing right next to his heart, the slice cut deep into his soul. He trusted only Obi-Wan to see it and even then he still hid it away. Regret and shame constant companions as he haunted his old life. He was trying to live again but it seemed impossible.
He wasn’t the only one with struggles of course. Anakin’s near fall and subsequent retirement from the Jedi Order as he retreated to behind the expanding shadow of his wife - the now Chancellor elect - had dealt an unforgivable blow to Obi-Wan. His lover still blamed himself for it, something many among the Jedi and the senate seemed to agree with given their treatment of Obes. Quinlan ground his teeth together as the rage bubbled up within him again.
He understood the anger the others carried, the need to find someone at fault and have them face justice. And with Palpatine dead and Anakin out of the spotlight, Obi-Wan was the only familiar face left to face their wrath. He understood really he did. But it was Obi-Wan they’d turned their scorn on and so they could all hang. Kriff them for all their judgements and their glares and their harsh words as they desperately avoided the finger falling on them as the investigation into the fallout started finding all Palpatine’s sycophants nasty little secrets.
Quinlan took a necessary and deep cleansing breath, letting Obes solid and comforting presence both in the physical realm and within the Force, gentle the sandpaper roughness that clung under his skin, scraping him raw time and time again. Too close to the edge. He rubbed his forehead against Obi-Wan’s and sighed.
“You really want to run away to a desert planet and be a monk with me?” Quinlan asked, more serious than he would usually allow his tone to reveal.
“Quin, I’ve been a general and a knight most of my life, that honestly sounds like paradise,” Obi-Wan laughed though the sound had a hallow quality to it.
“You could go anywhere to find a measure of peace,” Quinlan pointed out, the words unsaid still loud enough to echo between them, to be heard even when Quinlan didn’t want them to be. Where Obi-Wan found enemies and scorn within the core, he was beloved by the galaxy’s general populace for all he had done out in the wilds, their steadfast general and protector, he could have a ticket to anywhere all expenses paid.
He could have his pick of partners, ones that weren’t so…broken.
Obi-Wan frowned at him for a moment, feeling or hearing the words buzzing behind Quinlan’s lips like angry wasps. Without hesitation he pushed against Quinlan, surrounding him as he dropped every barrier, every shield between them and letting his own emotions practically flood through the bond in one of the most reckless moves Obes had ever made in all the years they’d known one another.
Quinlan had no choice but to feel it. All of it.
Front and centre was Obes sheer bullheaded love and admiration for Quin like Obi-Wan had thrown it in his face in an effort to make sure that Quinlan couldn’t ignore nor hide from the truth that Obi-Wan loved him with every fibre of his being and that wasn’t going to change. It hadn’t changed since they were younglings and it wouldn’t change even when they were old and grey. Their connection was as solid and eternal as a kyber crystal. Quinlan felt the tears burning in his eyes as he just let himself bask in it, the bright star of that absolute assurity burning away the insecurities and lingering shadow that had curled around that aspect of his heart like dawn’s first rays banishing the night. No doubt could remain in the face of it.
Quinlan let Obi-Wan see his own fierce love in return, how they were two standing stones leaning on one another, weathering each storm, together. How Obi-Wan’s steely determination to remain by Quin’s side, to chase him across the black and bring him home even if it took decades, was matched only by Quinlan’s own need to watch Obi-Wan’s often unguarded back even from their fellow Jedi whom Obes wouldn’t protect himself from in some daft view of penance. Together they filled in the cracks, gently sanded down the sharper of edges of each other and provided a safe harbour when they needed to retreat.
Together. Always together.
The word echoed between them, dogging each emotion and memory, even the ones they tried to shy away from the other wouldn’t allow it. A push and pull of a reminder that they weren’t alone and never would be. No matter what, even if their love changed from the intimate into the platonic, they would always have each other.
There was nowhere Quinlan would rather be and no-one he wished to face this with more than Obi-Wan and he felt something settle between them, another solid thread weaving around an already thick rope like bond between them. Another solid step for them to build on in the new path as Obi-Wan mirrored that oath and love without hesitation.
They held each other, lost in the ebb and flow of the gentler emotions between them. A soft tide that settled Quin’s mind and soothed the raging storm within him.
Eventually they separated, in mind only, Quin was reluctant to physically part and it appeared Obes was of the same mind.
“So I’m stealing away the council’s best man?” Quinlan teased softly feeling better than he had in weeks.
Obi-Wan snorted inelegantly, “You can view it that way, I’m sure we’ll receive equal blame in Mace’s eyes for leaving him to fend for himself.”
“Things that rough?” Quinlan asked, he was still a Shadow, technically, though one no longer in the loop of things. At least until Tholme believed him more settled.
“Nothing Mace can’t handle, though he’ll complain about it all the way. Mostly they need my face out there to further reassure the public and politicians that the Jedi intend too…” He faltered a little struggling to put it in his usual polite and calm manner.
Quinlan never suffered from such a problem and so finished the sentence with the usual brutal honesty, “Not loose their shit, rightfully, at the galaxy?”
“Effectively yes,” Obi-Wan admitted with a quiet smile.
“You could join me later,” Quinlan pointed out, weakly.
“That particular task list is never ending, if I don’t leave now, I never will and I…I need this,” Obi-Wan said and Quin remembered the sense of bone deep exhaustion Obes had tried to hide ineffectively during their connection. His partner was well and truly heart sore after a long and bloody war and some rest and peace would do him good. Quinlan was just grateful that Obes recognised it himself, the notoriously independent Jedi Master was well known for ignoring his own needs usually, the fact that he not only admitted it and was doing something relatively healthy about it was frankly as miraculous as it was truly concerning, for Obes to be that far gone that even he could see the fault-line made Quinlan fidget with the urge to bundle his partner into the back of a ship for Jedha right now.
Quinlan nodded instead, content with the knowledge that they were leaving soon enough, and pressed a chaste kiss against Obe’s eyebrow. “Then lets run away together.”
“You make it sound terribly romantic,” Obi-Wan sighed, the sound more wistful than chastising.
Quinlan felt some of his old spirit return for a moment, “Feels like it, we could elope in secret.”
It was worth the groan he got, “We have more sense than my Padawan, please,” Obi-Wan begged.
Quinlan chuckled, the sound horse but light, “His timing and his subtly could have been better.”
“I swear I taught him better than that, you taught him better than that,” Obi-Wan grumbled.
“In one ear and out the other with that one, good thing though, made things easier to spot,” Quinlan muttered and the heavy silence that followed his words was telling. From what they’d dug up of Palpatine’s plans, if Mace and Obi-Wan hadn’t caught on to something amiss with the young knight then things could have been catastrophic for everyone. It was a nightmare to think about.
“He’ll be safe and happy on Naboo,” Obi-Wan said, almost as though seeking reassurance from the universe at large.
“Trophy husband to the Chancellor elect seems to suit him well,” Quinlan teased but there was honestly there. What he’d caught of Obi-Wan’s former Padawan in the holo’s the boy truly did look to be in his element, tucked behind his wife and somehow still grease stained despite the wails of a PR team but smiling in a carefree manner they hadn’t really seen since he was a small lad.
“Perhaps running off to be hedonistic monks on Jedha will suit us,” Obi-Wan teased softly.
“Master Kenobi do you intend to seduce me during my retreat,” Quinlan gasped in fake shock.
Obi-Wan looked throughly unimpressed with his acting skills, “As if you weren’t planning the same.”
“Always and as often as I can get away with,” Quinlan promised cheekily and something of his old self seemed to shine through enough that it left a distinctly sappy look across Obes’ face.
“Good, I look forward to your attempts,” he said, pressing their lips together chastely before reluctantly pulling away to finish packing.
“We can start by slipping away in the middle of the night like old times,” Quinlan said as he settled against the wall, more relaxed and at ease than he’d felt earlier.
“We’ll have to, to avoid Mace,” Obi-Wan reminded him and some of that relaxation went away as Quinlan realised they really would. He laughed brightly at that challenge to slip out with the council’s best Master under Windu’s nose. He didn’t miss the gentle smile that tugged at the corner of Obi-Wan’s mouth at the bright noise.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Quinlan Vos
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Quinlan Vos, Qui-Gon Jinn, Bant Eerin (mentioned)
Additional Tags: QuinObi Week, Mutual Pining, Prompt: Kyber Crystals, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), (It's Fine), (i wrote this in an hour at midnight ily bye), Let Jedi Be Weird
Summary:
Kyber is weird and I think it should be allowed to be weirder, frankly
(Quinlan has a crush on his best friend. His crystal agrees.)
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M | Words: 1885 | Chapters: 1/1
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Quinlan Vos
Summary:
In which Quinlan brings Obi-Wan a gift and takes him out on a maybe-date because he really, really wants to kiss him. The good news is, Obi-Wan really, really wants to kiss him, too.
Written for QuinObi Week Day 3 Prompt "First kiss" (but could also fit Day 5 "Padawan crush")
Tags: QuinObi Week, First Kiss, Senior Padawan Obi-Wan, Senior Padawan Quinlan, Gift Giving, Museums, Crushes, POV Quinlan
My one and only offering for QuinObi week this year, and my first published fic for the pairing!
Title is from Blue Glass by The Lonely Biscuits.
(They're supposed to be about 18 in the fic, so still somewhat awkward teenagers but post-Mandalore for Obi-Wan and not too long before Quin gets knighted.)
