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[neverjedi]

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[neverjedi]

He grimaced, though it was playful. "No, thank you. I like my heart beating. I think I'll stick with highballs rather than speed-balls." And in this case, he was going to be the guy drinking coffee in a bar, because Anakin was drinking rootbeer and this was all very wholesome and adorable.

And somewhat interesting just for that, strange trips over demanding ID and all.

[darkforcerising]

Wholesome and adorable - Anakin would find that amusing.

"Are you a traditionalist, whiskey-only person or do you accept the modern trends of using other liquors?" Just because he didn't drink now, that didn't mean he didn't know his alcohol.

They reached the bar. "Nikki," Anakin caught the bartender's attention. "Rootbeer and..." He turned to Obi-Wan to give his order.

[neverjedi]

"I accept modern trends, I prefer whiskey and-" To Nikki, with a really warm smile, "I'm having coffee. We'll be the best behaved customers you have all day."

Knowing alcohol and avoiding it said something. That something could be one of several things, but they all meant that he wasn't going to drink in Anakin's presence, at least not at this point.

[darkforcerising]

"What?" Anakin said, his tone mocking, his expression shocked, but also mocking. "I have to behave also?"

The bartender rolled his eyes - used to Anakin by now - and went to get them their order.

"You like rules, don't you?"

[neverjedi]

He snorted with amusement, somehow making even that just a tiny bit elegant, when Anakin teased both him and the bartender.

He considered the question, fairly seriously. "I always like to know what the rules are. I usually follow them, but even when I don't I would vastly prefer it be a conscious decision."

A pause: "Close enough to a useful answer?"

[darkforcerising]

Nikki came back with their drinks. Anakin grabbed his and nodded towards a table. He was still too new at this half an arm thing to risk the high stools. It was little things like that, balance on a stool, that he'd never thought about before losing his arm. And now he had to think about them constantly.

"It was an answer. Anything you said would have been useful. When was the last time you broke a rule?" Was it j-walking, Obi-Wan? Amuse Anakin.

[neverjedi]

He took his coffee and followed Anakin toward a table, taking the seat across from him. He preferred the table, too, for a few reasons. One of those reasons was relative privacy.

"I asked you out." His tone is dry, but partially because he hadn't meant to.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin was not expecting that answer, but it still amused him.

"There's a story behind that one," he said. "I'm a rule that shouldn't be broken?"

[neverjedi]

"Overall, I prefer to only break people when my job requires it," he said, extremely dryly. "In my leisure time I'd much rather be broken."

Sorry, Anakin, it was right there and he couldn't resist.

"Asking people out is something I prefer to be a bit more aware that I'm doing. I can't say I regret it?" he offered, over the rim of his mug.

[darkforcerising]

"Are you saying I throw you off your game?" Anakin said, wiggling his eyebrows.

[neverjedi]

"Literally when you insist on playing the game at the speed of light." He rolled his eyes at Anakin.

Chess. He means chess.

"So, let's play another one: Tell me something about you that I don't already know?'

[darkforcerising]

“That is a legitimate way to play the game- and, I gave you a choice at the start.”

Anakin liked that game, he did not like this next one. He didn’t like talking about himself for various reasons, not the least of which were his are and why it was like that.

“Is this were I get to insert a joke about you being FBI and must already know everything about me?”

[neverjedi]

"You can make the joke if you'd like, but I don't know anything about you that you haven't already told me. I only know how old you are because you already told me. That would be..." He looks for a rude. "Unfair."

[darkforcerising]

Yes, it would be unfair if Obi-Wan used his government resources to gather information on Anakin. At least that was some very useful fundamental information about Obi-Wan’s character. Anakin liked it.

He took a drink from his rootbeer and thought about his answer. Then settled on something he was willing to reveal. Mostly because it was information. Obi-Wan could find on the Internet. So it wasn’t that much of a secret.

“I used to compete in motocross.”

[neverjedi]

He'd almost just said 'unethical, creepy as hell, and entirely inappropriate', but why use more words than necessary.

He blinked at Anakin's reply over the rim of his cup, and then realized it made sense. "So, I like rules and you like going fast." That sounded right.

A pause. "I used to competitively figure-skate and I never want that brought up again." He's not entirely joking about the 'never bring it up' bit, but only mostly.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin’s eyes lit up with delight and his phone was out before Obi-Wan could say anything.

“Aww, nothing comes up when I search ‘FBI agent figure skater.’” He frowned for added emphasis.

[neverjedi]

He takes out his own phone, does his own typing and then switches to images. The difference is his search is for 'Benjamin' Kenobi.

He passes the phone over and sure enough there are quite a few pictures of a younger him in glittery costumes, on ice, occasionally holding women up in impressive looking lists.

"You didn't think my parents actually named me Obi-Wan, did you?"

[darkforcerising]

Anakin looked even more excited.

“You were a pairs figure skater!”

He scrolled through the pictures, even selected a few to see them in more detail.

“I have so many questions.”

[neverjedi]

"Yes, and if you're very lucky I may be convinced to answer some of them." He was teasing, but he was also legitimately pretty pained by Anakin being excited about this.

[darkforcerising]

“Okat, I’ll ask an easy one,” Anakin said. His goal wasn’t to make this awkward.

“Why did you quit?”

[neverjedi]

He wasn't feeling terribly awkward, honestly, just slightly embarrassed. It was also far easier, clearly, for Anakin to be talking about Obi-Wan than talking about himself and that was...

That was okay.

"I still skate - but there is a reason that most skater's careers are finished before they're out of their very early twenties. I also never really liked performing."

He was even letting Anakin keep his phone.

[darkforcerising]

“What reason is that?” Anakin asked, because Obi-Wan still didn’t answer his question.

“I’ve never gone skating. Only watched the Olympics on tv.”

[neverjedi]

"The reason I quit competing was dislike of performance, primarily," he clarified. "The secondary reason and reason most people are done early is that it's high impact and competition requires a lot of practice and repetition."

Which tended to trash things you nominally needed like your spine, knees, and ankles.

"Do you want to go?" It was New York City. There were options.

[darkforcerising]

“Huh,” Anakin said. “Never thought about figure skating being that kind of sport.” But now that he thought about it, it made sense.

“Go skating? They have that very public rink at Rockefeller center, right?”

That was not a yes. And it wasn’t a no, either. He still had balance issues with normal things, he didn’t know if slapping blades on his feet and then getting on slippery ice for the first time in his life was a good idea in front of someone so skilled at it. It was shamelessly an ego thing.

[neverjedi]

"Most people don't consider it any kind of sport." He wasn't annoyed by that, much less Anakin having the sense to have thought about it and reassessed. Honestly, overall, the fact that people didn't amused him.

"There is." Emphasis on very public. "I tend to rent the ice at Aviator Sports Arena for a few hours a week, though if you want to join me. Less of the 'performance' aspect." He understood the concern though he had no idea how long it had been since Anakin had lost his arm. He'd noticed the avoidance of the stool at the bar, for instance, and that was a pretty big clue.

He wasn't going to push for a yes- but he wouldn't have offered if he thought it was insurmountable issue, though.