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[neverjedi]

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[neverjedi]

"Save calling me a show off for when I start pulling out triple axles," he said, dryly.

He watched Anakin, opened his mouth to instruct him and then changed his mind.

"Do you have issue with being touched?"

[darkforcerising]

“Depends. I’m assuming you are going to stick a wet finger in my ear.”

So, sure, Obi-Wan could touch him.

“It’ll be better if you grab my upper arm. I can actually feel that.”

[neverjedi]

"I can't think of a single reason I'd grab your arms." Which is true enough since he's moving back around Anakin and putting his hands solidly on Anakin's hips. "Sticking a wet finger in your ear, though..."

He wasn't plastered against Anakin or anything, but since he was doing double duty on balance right now, he was close.

"Put all your weight on your left leg." And as soon as Anakin came even close to doing that, he pushed them both off with his right (skipping Anakin needing to weight shift yet) and got them away from the wall. Security was nice and all but so bad for figuring things out.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin was not expecting a - that Obi-Wan would be touching him there (though he didn’t fight it) and b - that they would leave the wall.

“There are easier ways to get your hands on my hips, you know. And I like the wall. I was making friends with the wall.”

But he tried. And managed a little better this time.

[neverjedi]

"You don't want to make friends with the wall. You hold onto the wall with your upper half, your center of gravity goes toward your grip, your legs slide the other way and you're stuck looking like you're the wall's clingy boyfriend."

He tightens the hand on Anakin's right hip slightly. "Shift your weight onto this leg."

Which meant he pushed off with his left.

"Right now, just do that. Shift your weight toward the tighter hand." He'd handle keeping them up and balance-

and he really could do that because in spite of being relatively small and not looking like he knew the meaning of the word 'workout' he was strong.

"And breathe."

[darkforcerising]

“The wall likes it,” Anakin protested. But he noticed the lack of Obi-Wan’s objection to the touching comment. And again, he found he didn’t mind.

Following the instructions was easy enough, and it seemed to be working.

“I see we’re coming up to the end of the rink. What do I do?”

[neverjedi]

He hadn't objected because it was true on two levels: He wanted to touch Anakin, but also that there were better ways if what he wanted was to get his hands on Anakin's hips. In front of or beside Anakin, he had the same issue as the wall - and wouldn't be able to get close enough to prevent it. He was also a lot less stable than a wall.

"Bend your right knee, keep your weight above and on it, and just like a motorcycle - lean in the direction of your turn. In this case right."

Stopping with Anakin was - they should have gone over that before. Oh well, they still had a wall.

[darkforcerising]

The analogy made sense, the follow through was wobbly. But they were turning. And then they were going the other direction.

“Maybe I can try it on my own now?”

[neverjedi]

"It's like you read my mind." Aside from that 'oops' on not teaching a stop.

He was careful to let go of Anakin without allowing any sort of pressure in any direction to happen, but he wasn't hesitant in letting go, either.

He didn't continue to hover, either. Once they were no longer attached, he moved off so a location where he could watch Anakin,

[darkforcerising]

He wasn’t going fast, but he kept the motion - push back with the edge of his skate, glide, switch feet - going.

Until he caught the toe pick, lost his balance, and ended up on his ass.

By now he was used to falling so he just let it happen, laid back on the ice until his butt stopped smarting.

“I’m really narrowing down the possibilities for my revenge.”

[neverjedi]

He skated over, looking for all the world like he wasn't on skates or ice - more like crossing the street in sneakers for all his stability.

He reached down and offered Anakin his hand.

"Why? You're doing remarkably well." Not a lie. He was pretty impressed.

Of course most of his students were four or had been skating for more than a decade, but still.

[darkforcerising]

“Stop smirking.”

But Anakin smiled and took Obi-Wan’s hand. He’d watched the man skate over and had admired his ability to make the act look effortless.

He remembered what Obi-Wan said about getting up from his knees and shifted to do just that.

Once standing he asked, “What’s the point of these gougey things?”

[neverjedi]

If he was going to be accused of showing off and smirking, could he do just a little? Just once? Instead of offering a calm verbal explanation?

...He was going to.

He took off away from Anakin, backward with cross-overs that gained speed and power fast, dug into the ice and launched up into a near perfect triple axle, landed and glided out on one leg toward Anakin.

His other leg came down and he stopped hard enough to actually have the snow created by the sideways blade be visible as a plume. "The point's to dig into the ice as a point to launch or push from. Now I've shown off and am smirking - do you want to go fast, yet?"

[darkforcerising]

Anakin watched Obi-Wan’s demonstrations with admiration. This was something he’d probably never get that good at. And Obi-Wan must have spent more than that magic 10,000 hours of practice to get this far.

But the spray of snow was a bit much.

But tending towards showmanship himself - in other things - he couldn’t fault Obi-Wan.

“I am impressed.” He was also thinking, for the first time, what he’d like to do to that Man’s smirk with his own mouth... to keep the impulse from showing, he hurried on to say, “Yes, I would love to go fast.”

[neverjedi]

It was the natural result of a hard stop.

That he could have softened by not waiting to the last second to stop.

His smirk turned into a grin and laugh.

"Now I have reason to hold onto your arms." He put one hand on top of Anakin's right shoulder, though more distance would have been more ideal, and offered his other arm to Anakin - "Hold onto my forearm and let's give you something to make this worth your while."

[darkforcerising]

Anakin smirked, thinking this already had been worthwhile. But if Obi-Wan insisted on touching him, he’d give him the pretense.

And he’d take the pretense himself, taking hold of Obi-Wan’s arm.

He didn’t know what kind of distance they needed, but he was suddenly very aware of how much - or little - space was between them. And now he was thinking whatever revenge he had planned, it should involve touching.

“I’m ready when you are.”

[neverjedi]

He very, very, sincerely hoped that 'revenge' involved touching, but his primary consideration and hope was that there was revenge.

Meanwhile he was very aware of how close they were, both because it he needed to be. He didn't immediately begin moving, but took a second to be serious -

"Keep your core tight arm rigid. Don't get pulled in to my skates or more than your pride might end up hurt."

With that warning, though, he did take off. Backward, as he had before. Slowly at first, to make sure Anakin had time to figure out where Obi-Wan's takes were moving, what the rhythm was and that he could keep them from getting entangled.

Once he was relatively sure of that, he did begin to gain speed. Those same crossovers he'd used before, in being a show off, because they allowed a lot of power and ground coverage fast, which built speed fast.

He kept his eyes on Anakin's fast, rather than looking over his shoulder this time - since he wasn't about to jump he didn't need the twist for additional power.

[darkforcerising]

“Like dancing.” He meant the comment about keeping his arm rigid. His mother had raised him right, taught him the basics about dancing. So arms locked, core locked. He watched Obi-Wan’s feet and figured out a way to keep up.

When he was sure he had a rhythm down, he looked up and found Obi-Wan looking back. And he gave over to letting Obi-Wan take them wherever he want, because right then he didn’t want to think about or focus on anything but Obi-Wan’s eyes.

[neverjedi]

There it was.

He could feel the second Anakin relaxed and let him have control, trusted that Anakin wasn't going to get in his way and his speed went from fast, to really, really pushing it fast, covering a lot of ground every time he stepped back and over, pulling Anakin with him and giving him some real speed - like enough to get a good breeze on his face.

Ultimately he stopped in a glide, pulling them into a wide, but tightening as they slowed, turn.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin enjoyed the speed, and letting Obi-Wan take control. The emotional feeling was much like standing at the open side door on a plane, ready to jump.

He waited until they'd almost stopped moving when he let his arm holding Obi-Wan's arm go slack, changing the speed at which he slowed, entering Obi-Wan's space.

"You're good," He said lowly, with a smile.

[neverjedi]

When Anakin slid into his space he let that happen, relaxing the arm on Anakin's shoulder and allowing it to slide over and to his upper-back. Allowed him to get closer, right into his space to the degree that his skates were probably close to being inside the space between his own.

He tilted his chin up slightly so he could meet Anakin's eyes with an easy, comfortable, smile and tightened his arm just a little, and reversed the direction of their slow spin - keeping Anakin close.

"I am," he agreed.

That voice? Got to him. So did Anakin being more relaxed, and happier. Right down in the pit of his stomach. "I can't wait to see my revenge."

[darkforcerising]

Anakin bit his lower lip while continuing to smile.

"I'm glad you talked me into this." To be honest, it hadn't taken much. But why point that out?

"Can you pretend to not be an FBI agent for a night?"

[neverjedi]

He kept them in motion, though the motion was slow. It was also for his benefit for than Anakin's. He liked being on ice.

"I suppose that depends on what you mean by pretending not to be an FBI agent. Put on a pair of jeans and not care about minor things? Sure." He did it basically every night.

[darkforcerising]

"Hmm," Anakin said, going back to a smile. "I like the idea of you in jeans. But where does 'the person standing next to me might be on molly' fit on that spectrum?"

[neverjedi]

He blinked at the remark of him in jeans with a bit of confusion, but carried on, after that moment of being thrown.

"Still depends," he said, quirking a smile. "Are they climbing behind the wheel of a car? Are they you?"