Curate, connect, and discover
Star Wars Au where everything is nearly the same but Obi-Wan shaves off his beard during clone wars. He probably would have grown a beard not long after being knighted and getting Anakin, because it made him seem older and gained him more respect. He has had it for so long that Anakin barely remembers the young man he had first met. Then in beginning of Clone wars film, maybe the assassin gets a lucky shot and it singes the beard. Now the beard is uneven and Obi-wan shaves it off so he can regrow it.
But now he looks barely older than he was when he was first knighted and all of a sudden Anakin is like ‘must protect’! Now everyone is suddenly aware at how young Obi-Wan was when he was burdened with a lot of responsibility and everything is still the same but the relationships with Obi-wan is dialled up ten notches. All while Obi-wan himself has figured this out and coincidently keeps shaving so that he can use this new sway to change the course of the war.