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[neverjedi]

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[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.

[darkforcerising]

“Aviator? Do they teach flying there, too?” Anakin smiled, very much amused.

Still not a yes or a no...

“Why did you join the FBI?” And that sure was a subject change.

[neverjedi]

"No, but they have their own restaurant," he said, also amused.

He let the lack of direct answer go. There were clearly nerves in play.

He laughed a little, quiet but warm. "I joined the FBI, because it was there and seemed like a good idea at the time. The only other serious contender at that point was the military and, no offense at all, that wasn't something I was particularly suited for."

[darkforcerising]

“Why do you say that?” But Anakin was smiling, and his next question revealed why. “Is it because you look better in a black suit than camo?”

[neverjedi]

He retrieved his phone and looked down at it, and began typing in google again. He did pause to look up. "No."

He actually was a little smirky about his non-answer.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin raised an eyebrow and took another drink from his bottle.

Was this suddenly a game?

“Ideological differences about standing armies and foreign relations?”

[neverjedi]

"That isn't a bad theory, actually, and there are elements of trust in how I feel about it today. Nearly ten years ago, the reason was much simpler."

It is a game, now, because if Anakin isn't going to tell him anything, but is going to push, he is at least going to have to work for it.

[darkforcerising]

Ten years before Anakin was sixteen, deep into his plan to join the Air Force and despite willing to enlist into the ideological quandary of America’s foreign policy l, he didn’t think about it like that.

But what was going on ten years before...

“You were inspired by President Obama’s campaign and thought ‘I want to take a bullet for that guy’?”

[neverjedi]

"Also not a horrible theory all things considered, but still no."

He finished with his phone and put it on the table, facedown and hands folded lightly over it.

"I'll give you a hint. It involves the process of being admitted to either, rather than ideology or action."

Actually he was giving Anakin one more guess and then frustration would lead to him either telling Anakin or moving the hell on.