darkforcerising | OPEN POST

"Is that an invitation to lick you?" Anakin asked playfully as his hand did the same thing Obi-Wan's did and traveled down the man's neck and shoulders, massaging the soap into whatever skin it could reach.

"An open one." He smiled and dropped his head down a little, then sort of used Anakin's hands as leverage and forced himself to stretch past tension he was carrying in his neck.

He did remember to close his eyes against the possibility of getting lather in them. "I wouldn't while I'm covered in soap, though."

Anakin stopped gently rubbing the soap in and where he found tight muscles switch between using his thumb and the heel of hand to knead out those tight spots. There was something about trying to address Obi-Wan's underlying muscle aches that Anakin found touchingly intimate. He wished he could do this with both hands, but his metal hand was really not good for massaging bodies.

"You should rinse your hair," he said. "So I can lick you."

"I don't know, I'm kind of enjoying the alternative...." He was, but it was also a little physically and emotionally uncomfortable, because he couldn't really even pretend he wasn't tense when it was happening under Anakin's hands.

He didn't elaborate, just slid down under the water and got one hand up so rake through his hair to work the soap out.

"C'mon here," Anakin said when Obi-Wan popped back up. He slipped his arms around Obi-Wan to pull him back in close.

"I could take a nap in here with you." They'd only been awake for a short period of time, but it was still true. He couldn't get more relaxed. The water was still hot. And despite the hard material the tub was made off, it was built so perfectly it was as comfortable as the bed.

He settled back against Anakin's chest without too much protest - or, rather, without any beyond a vague feeling that he should. He had no desire to turn that vague feeling into any sort of action, though.

"Then why don't we?" It felt good, he was more relaxed and the hot water (and Anakin) felt wonderful. "It'll pass time to get to Leia more quickly, too."

With Obi-Wan leaning against him again, Anakin just sank more into the heady feeling of comfort.

"I don't need anymore convincing." He settled so that he could rest his head back against the tup and closed his eyes.

It was a wonderful nap.

He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that as he couldn't see any time piece, but he didn't care. And the water didn't lose its heat the whole time - there must have been some kind of heating element built into the tub. He loved advanced technology.

But Anakin woke up and then waited for Obi-Wan to do the same, though his stomach protested waiting for food.

Now dressed and in the kitchen, he was looking at the cupboards.

"Do you care what we eat?"

He didn't sleep deeply, but he did sleep and he didn't wake up with his heart racing out of his chest, so it was all around a win.

He got dried off and dressed, combed his hair and followed Anakin into the kitchen, feeling just a bit bemused at how much he was doing the following right now. He didn't think he minded - at all, really. It might even be a little bit of a... relief? Something like it, anyway.

He shook his head and sat down to watch Anakin. "I'm not particularly hungry, but will eat with you so long as it isn't some meat based meal."

"I miss waffles," Anakin said wistfully. "Maybe I'll figure out how to make a waffle iron someday." Actually, that was not a bad side project. Then he'd have to figure out the recipe.

"Um, looks like there's fresh fruit, oats of some kind. There are eggs and, oh! Blue milk."

"What's a waffle and why does it need an iron?" There was a definite culture and language problem happening there.

He got up and went to explore the options and then - "Put that together and it's a meal. Do you want to cook the oats or slice the fruit?"

"Fruit," Anakin said, and he grabbed the bowl and knife.

"Okay, iron- So that word..." Anakin had to think about why people on Earth called a waffle iron an iron. "I think the first waffle irons were actually made out of iron. But... a waffle iron, there are two hot irons, cast in a grid-like shape, and you pour batter between them, then press them together until the batter is cooked. Trust me, it's really good. You put butter - lots of butter - and syrup on it. Sometimes you put fruit. Oh, and whipped cream."

"So it's... bread?" He got a pretty good mental image from Anakin's description. How it worked, much less so.

He handed Anakin a knife and went to find a pot and to grab the oats.

"No," Anakin said, and he sounded slightly offended. "It's not bread. It's got flour in it, yes. But Cake isn't bread. It's like crispy cake."

He looked, and was, immediately offended. Not quite outraged, but offended. "Why are you buttering your cake?!?"

At least he wasn't sinking into a pit of self-loathing?

"What? No." Anakin was confused for a moment, because he pictured a big slab of butter on a traditional birthday cake. Then again... wasn't buttercream made out of butter and sugar? And there were pancakes.

Anakin started laughing. He set down the fruit and knife to go give Obi-Wan a hug.

"Not that kind of cake," he said in Obi-Wan's ear. "I think I need to figure out how to make you some of these foods I know of for you. Butter on cake makes a lot more sense when you try it."

His mental image was definitely of Anakin's birthday cake with a slab of butter. Except it was blue, or green.

He was confused and surprised by the laughter - mostly confused - but hearing Anakin laugh was worth a very sincere smile, regardless, and he returned the hug (though somewhat loosely). He also turned toward the voice in his ear and kissed just under Anakin's jaw.

"I'd like you to take up cooking food you know. I'm not sure you'll convince me of buttered cake - with or without whipped cream."

"Really?" Anakin said, sounding surprised. "You'd like that? Even after all the food I messed up while you were convalescing?"

He was surprised Anakin missed the biggest part of his reasoning. Surprised enough to actually spell it out.

"Of course, I would. You've lived a whole life I know very little about, but is a big part of who you are. A whole different reality. I want to know as much as you'll show me." Because he was curious but most importantly -

because it was a big part of Anakin, and he loved Anakin.

Anakin peered at Obi-Wan for a moment, then grinned and shook his head. "You say that now." But he gave Obi-Wan a peck on the lips.

"If you want, I have pictures and media on the personal device I had on me when I got here."

He flashed a smile, though still slight, at Anakin for the grin and gave his arm a light squeeze in return for the kiss that was there and gone so quickly.

"I do - and I'll keep saying it." Because Anakin was his. "We have our evening plans sorted, then."

After Leia had gone.

"Sure, I'll need a moment to configure the data transfer to Goose... but sure," Anakin said. And this time his kiss was longer. But not so long that they forgot about breakfast. Because Obi-Wan smelled like fruit and Anakin's job was to chop the fruit.

Despite Anakin's rough chopping skills, breakfast was a success.

The problem was, the closer they got to Leia's visit, the worse Anakin felt. Not that he thought Leia would be a disappointment - she was still a baby, even if she cried at him she would not be a disappointment. It was him, he was nervous. He didn't want to mess this up. He knew that while he was genetically Leia's father, Bail was her father. If this went wrong, Bail would never let this happen again, and Anakin made no assumptions about Bail's opinion of him.

He tried using the project of transferring the data from his iPhone to Goose as a means to distract his mind until Bail and Leia showed up. But he lost focus easily and had to stand up frequently, using any excuse to do so. Water. Bathroom. 'Finding' the right tool, only to find it in the pile he was working from. And then he'd sit back down again to work.

Thankfully he was sitting and working when Bail did show up.

He watches Anakin's restlessness and inability to settle and feels somewhat helpless to do anything about it - or, at least to do anything useful to help him.

He does manage, mostly, not to be infected by it and to start restlessly pacing around himself, but there's more than once that he's tempted.

He also manages not to get snappy with Anakin. He doesn't entirely understand, but he does sympathize enough to not interfere.

He's curled up in the corner of a sofa when Bail shows up, smiles and immediately goes to get him - while keeping his mind, though not so much his eyes - on Anakin.

"I can't quite decide if it's appropriate to offer you a drink in a home that is actually yours...."

Bail knew with absolute certainty he could trust Obi-Wan. And there was a time when he believed the same about Anakin Skywalker, too.

But times had changed. The things Vader had done, the things he did – information Bail knew that others didn’t – made him cautious. From someone who didn’t experience the Force the same way Jedi did, on what was he to ground his anchor of trust when the veil between good and evil, right and wrong in matters of the Force seemed so arbitrary to him?

He knew there was no reasoning with people like Palpatine and Vader – or at least, despite all his diplomatic, political training, he could see no path to reason with them. But how Anakin could exist when Vader did – that was a mystery Bail was sure he’d never figure out.

That was too many unknowns for Bail to be comfortable.

He trusted Obi-Wan, absolutely. But even as he was relying on him to help the rebellion, the best Bail could say about Anakin was that he wanted to trust him. Call him a hypocrite, he just couldn’t help how he felt.

And maybe, maybe it wasn’t Anakin but really just the fear that Anakin represented – Leia’s biological father. The reasons Luke and Leia were kept from Vader weren’t present with Anakin. So what did that mean for him and Breha? Who’d both loved Leia the moment they each met her? Where did they stand as her parents now? Losing Leia would break their hearts.

But Bail was a man of his word, and he arrived, with Leia in his arms, at the appointed meeting time. He greeted everyone with a smile only half practiced.

He alleviated Obi-Wan’s dilemma and said, “Leia has her bottle, but I would enjoy some tea.” He noted that Anakin held back.

“Let’s go into the sitting room, shall we?”

"It will give Leia room to play." And space to decide who she wanted to go to - or not - and space for the rest of them in the more metaphoric but more important sense.

He looked between the two men, probably the two men he trusted most in this galaxy , that mistrusted one another.

"Let me grab a tray quickly and then Bail can lead the way with Leia."

Because having tea meant making tea and - he could heat water rapidly, with the Force, but he'd still prefer to not be floating that hot water about. It could, however, brew while they were all in one room.

Anakin did hang back, very much appreciating Obi-Wan taking the lead. He didn't know what to do with himself, his hands, where to place himself, except for not being able to take his eyes off Leia.

Someone taking control here, someone he trusted absolutely, was a good thing.

He nodded to all suggestions and waited to follow everyone into the sitting room.

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