Without The Force ~Obi-Wan Kenobi x Reader~

26- Whispers

Obi-Wan took you to dinner. Anakin was left to his own devices in the hotel room, on the condition that the building would still be standing when the two of you got back.

The restaurant, as restaurants in the depths go, was nice. Red vinyl seats were sticky with sweat, a jukebox played a strange sound which you supposed was meant to be music, and the food was sloppy and almost not entirely unlike what it was supposed to be. Obi-Wan scooted over the seat- a round booth in the corner that you had snagged before anyone else could- and you sat beside him. The smells from the kitchen were ripe and slightly sour, but not unpleasant, and Obi-Wan gave you a grin as he picked up the menu.

It was just the two of you, Obi-Wan was dressed as unlike a Jedi as a Jedi could, and nobody recognised him anyway. Here, you were just a couple of friends out for dinner, nothing more, and nobody had any expectations of you. Obi-Wan was thankful for that, he could relax a bit, let himself forget about the code for a couple of hours, and then go back to his room and pretend it simply never happened. He looked up from the menu to you, and you caught his eye with a smile. He felt his chest tighten... a date... was this a date?

It wasn't a date. You had to keep repeating that in your head, because you kept forgetting, kept almost reaching for Obi-Wan's hand, kept almost saying something stupidly romantic that would give away how you felt. Obi-Wan would be horrified if he knew, you thought, he would get up and storm out, leaving you here to rot amongst the others. You frowned, wishing you could move just a little bit closer to him, but that would be weird. 

The waiter was a strange looking man, with a missing eye and a scar that (from what you could tell) stretched from his forehead all the way down his neck and along his arm to his wrist. It was old and completely healed, but the thought of somebody doing that almost put you off ordering your food. Once the food was ordered, you sipped on the water you had been poured. Obi-Wan did the same, neither of you could quite figure out what to say. It was like he was a stranger, but really he was your friend, why were you so nervous?

"Nice weather we're having?" Obi-Wan offered, you nodded. Obi-Wan nodded too. Then he took a sip of his water and nearly chocked.

"Are you ok?" You hit on the back a couple of times as Obi-Wan coughs into his napkin, he shakes his head,

"It's nothing, I'm alright."

You smile, "If you can't get the water down, then I'm worried about how you'll deal with the food."

Obi-Wan laughed, and the thick tension from before alleviated. This was nice, just being with him, no mission, no Anakin and no stuffy temples where people seemed to watch you from every corner and whisper about you when you passed by. That bugged you, the way they talked like you weren't there, hissed whispers about how you were found "down there" and how you had been "adopted". You weren't some stray animal, and you said as much as Kit one day when he was walking with you. Someone had said something about your status to their friend, and Kit seemed surprised to hear it was a recurring thing.

"People aren't always good with new things, but they aren't being mean no reason. They are jealous, because you have done so much more with so little. They were born with everything, and yet you are their equal, it bothers them. You are special and unique, people aren't good at dealing with such things." He had smiled at you warmly, dark eyes narrowing with the raise of his cheeks, "That's why we have tradition, so we can keep up the facade that nothing ever changes. However, I would argue that some of us break these traditions, even if we don't realise it."

"What do you mean by that, Master Fisto?"

"You will learn that later, but for now, don't let their words get to you. With time, you will become a part of their tradition and they will come to accept you."