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[neverjedi]

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[neverjedi]

Near impossible was not impossible and yeah, way too heavy for a second date.

"I have a much older half brother. I've met him once, and I was six at the time. I don't know anything about him, beyond that he lives somewhere in Wyoming."

[darkforcerising]

“Esh- Wyoming, poor guy,” Anakin said.

“Do you have pets?” He’d never mention one before, but Anakin could picture him having fish or a turtle.

[neverjedi]

"I do not." He'd thought about it? Not that aquatics had occurred to him. "Unless the jade plant one of my students' mothers gave me counts." It shouldn't. "Do you?"

He wasn't sure Anakin wasn't a dog person, which was a time commitment that didn't seem likely with his life. Somehow. Even not knowing much.

He headed up the small flight of stairs to the building and opened the door for Anakin.

[darkforcerising]

“No.” Obi-Wan was right, Anakin’s life wasn’t conducive to owning pets at the moment.

He paused at the door, with an excited grin.

“I just want to make the prediction that I bet your apartment looks like a museum.”

[neverjedi]

He was confused but he couldn't not return that grin. He wanted to touch that grin. "In the sense that it's filled with old things? No. Otherwise... you might be right."

He nodded Anakin toward the elevator. "But before we confirm, is there a wager, or just a general bet?"

[darkforcerising]

“Hmm... what do you want to bet?”

Not competitive? Okay, sure.

[neverjedi]

Given that he expected to lose? No really.

Much.

Okay, kind of.

"Loser pays for the third date."

[darkforcerising]

Anakin understood the rules of this game and what his answer really meant. “It’s a bet.”

He got into the elevator.

[neverjedi]

That was good. It would have been-

Actually it would have been a pretty easy, face saving out. He was happy with that answer, though.

He got in behind Anakin, pressed the button for the fifth floor and watched the doors slide closed.

Once they did he actually leaned back against the back wall and closed his eyes for a bit. "The real question is, what the next one is going to be." They weren't exactly falling into a movies and dinner pattern.

It was a good thing.

[darkforcerising]

“You’re paying so I think you get to pick the activity,” Anakin pointed out. I mean, it’s a foregoNe conclusion that Obi-Wan would be paying.

“What do you want to see me do?”

[neverjedi]

"I just assumed loss meant I'd pay for your choice, but I think if we can find a way to combine loud music and movement it would be a win for both of us. Maybe I'll take you to a club."

Not usually his thing, but to hell with it. Input was good.

He opened his eyes as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open.

"I also don't know how serious you were about watching me teach, but it may make timing easier for whatever we do."

[darkforcerising]

“Will the club be playing AC/DC?” Anakin teased, glancing between the numbers on the elevator lighting up and looking at Obi-Wan.”

[neverjedi]

He laughed and stepped out. "Probably not, but I can dance. You'll get a lot of stimulation and I'll get a lot movement?"

It's still an offer rather than a concrete plan. "Unit D." There were only 4 up here. D was on the left back. He was also, of course, getting his keys out.

[darkforcerising]

“Hold up,” Anakin said. “Do you think Top 40s, hip hop, and pop all sound the same as EDM?” Anakin isn’t offended, but he really is amused.

[neverjedi]

"What?" he asked, stopping and turning in confusion. "No. Not even close." He was missing a link. He wasn't defensive just confused and trying to figure out where the jump one of them had made was.

[darkforcerising]

“You seem to be under the impression all it takes is loud noises to entertain me,” Anakin said. “I’m just trying to figure out where that came from.”

[neverjedi]

He moved again, this time unlocking his door and pushing it open and turning the light on before he let either of them enter. It was New York so the unit was small - could see the bed from the couch - but it was white, it was bright, and it was light.

And very clean.

"Oh. No. I'm not. I just think loud and busy is something you seem to gravitate toward as a layer when you're trying to be entertained."

[darkforcerising]

“Ah, the nice words for ‘disruptive’ and ‘out of hand’.” Which he’d heard a thousand times before.

But he jumped passed that to smile at guessing correctly the kind of place Obi-Wan lived.

“This is so close to how I imagined your place would be.”

[neverjedi]

How nice that he met expectations.

Unfortunately he was actually offended by the rest of that statement. Or rather... upset? Because he did not want to be ... read that wrong. And if he'd screwed up that badly, already, he needed to fix it.

Enough so that after he closed the door the only words he actually said were, "I beg your pardon? You are neither, but you play chess with loud music and choose to play fast. I assumed it was useful on some level."

[darkforcerising]

This was the situation - did he explain that reducing his interests to ‘loud’ and ‘busy’ was a negative stigma for him and why and why he’d been trying to use humor to glide past it, or don’t explain and just brush it off for that sake of saving everyone face?

It wasn’t that he thought Obi-Wan would be different, but this was just serious for a second date.

“I’m sorry,” Anakin said, “I have ADHD. My attention span is short and I’m easily distracted. Keeping focused on a task for a long duration takes constant reminder and no distractions. EDM music is repetitious and predictable so I use it to block out other stimuli. I can see how it seems over stimulating but it’s actually the opposite for me. And I can’t play chess slow- I mean, I can physically do it. But I forget whatever strategy I had going in about twenty minutes in because I get distracted.

“But... I am disruptive and out of hand. I just try really hard not to be because that’s not how society functions.”

[neverjedi]

He listened to Anakin and then nodded.

"Okay." He inclined his head slightly toward the table, since there was a lot of food to divide, and they had planned on eating. "Maybe you can tell me more about what you like to do in your free time and I won't go bull in a china shop on you while we work out a plan."

Because he knew very little, and part of what he did know was... that he needed to be careful. Maybe now also that he should expect humor as deflection more - or at least read it as humor - but he was still...

Almost tentative with asking questions of Anakin.

Almost.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin had been holding back because so much about himself was too 'disruptive,' not for a lack of a better word, because that was the word, But he was too disruptive for these kinds of interactions. You didn't just dump 'Hello, I'm in therapy to address three mental disorders and to re-learn how to do simple, every-day tasks like brushing my teeth because I lost my dominant arm in a jet crash' on every random person you met. You had no foundation to trust them.

And Obi-Wan had been that, a random person he just played chess with in the park... until the other day when Obi-Wan had said 'let me buy you a rootbeer.'

Anakin had been fine just playing chess with the man and leave any possibilities of more in the fantasy spank-bank. Because of the aforementioned too real reality of his life.

But he'd said yes to rootbeer. And yes to rootbeer had turned into skating. And skating had turned into this. And this was turning into...

Maybe it was time to drop some barriers - if Obi-Wan was willing to listen to that small bit about just his ADHD and not tell him to immediately get out, maybe there was enough there that Anakin could tell him more.

"Obi-Wan-" Anakin took a seat, sighing, but not out of exasperation. It was in preparation. "A year and a half ago, I was in a fighter jet crash and lost my right arm below my elbow. So add on top of ADHD PTSD and anxiety, too. I'm in physical therapy two days a week, mental therapy one. I work, I play chess in the park, and I've only just remastered how to do enough manual tasks with my left hand to make hobbies even a passing thought again. And occasionally - occasionally I go to a concert. That is... my life right now. Whatever you come up with to do, if it's what you want to do, I'll want to do it."

[neverjedi]

He listened to that, all of it, without flinching, then got up and went to pull out a glass bottle of rootbeer and bottle of water from the refrigerator, a couple of forks and some (paper) napkins from the drawer, and then started unpacking the takeout bags into the table.

None of that was any great shock - military, lost an arm recently, took meds, recently in New York and with a new job - but it was all a relief because he was no longer fumbling around in the dark.

"Great. I've got an early class Saturday. Come meet me at the Sports Arena about 11. We'll do brunch and the zoo."

[darkforcerising]

"Now..." Anakin started to say as he tried to help open containers - he could do that at least. "When you say 'Saturday' do you mean a few hours from now?"

[neverjedi]

He decided plates were probably a better idea after realizing how much food was there and got up to grab a couple and brought them back. "That depends on whether you're still here in the morning. If so, sure. You can watch me herd cats."

He'd actually meant next week, but hey, when the opening in conversation struck- It was pretty casual, almost teasing. Comfortable? Not a problem, anyway, certainly not one that came with expectation of acceptance, much less sex.

"Otherwise pick your Saturday."