just you and me (and the rest of the world) || anakin & ahsoka

Chapter 2

so i think i've established that i will have no official update schedule for this, but i'm going to try to get at least one chapter out per week. sometimes it'll be more, who knows? certainly not me 🤚

—

Mornings are unpredictable. They always have been.

Sometimes it's because the two of them don't realize that they've already used the spare carton of milk, until the cereal has already been poured, sometimes because the remaining artificial rain from the upper levels will slide down the roofs of all the houses overhead, and plummet onto the buildings in this area, the sound of it clanking against the metal almost always enough to wake one of them up.

Sometimes, like today, it's because the across-the-hall neighbors stop by to borrow something from Anakin's fridge or pantry. The family had quickly become close with him when he moved in, nearly ten years ago, and Ahsoka had always taken to hanging out with their son during the days when she stayed with her dad. The two had been referring to one another as best friends since they'd been toddlers.

"And the new bill is going to make a lot more higher-paying jobs available to us down here," Satine rambles between spoonfuls of oatmeal, while Anakin and Obi-Wan, her husband (ex-husband? Anakin can't remember if they've divorced again or not), nod along, pretending to listen to whatever's going on in politics lately that's got her so riled up.

From what Anakin had been told, her dream had always been to become a Senator, but her family had not had enough money to send her to university, so she'd moved in with her boyfriend at the time instead. Once they'd had their son, Korkie, they had decided to become an official family and get married.

"Morning, beautiful," Anakin says as Ahsoka stumbles into the kitchen—stumbles into his arms—with her eyes squinted in response to the bright, morning light, shining through the windows. He presses a gentle kiss to her head as she leans into his half-hug, the best he can give her while he's sitting down.

"Good morning, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan greets, reaching across Anakin to pat her on the head.

"Morning, Uncle Obi-Wan, Aunt Satine," she yawns. Formalities of calling the pair Mr. and Mrs. had simply never existed, as she'd known them for her entire life. They'd always been family.

"Good morning," Satine says with a smile. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes, while it will be helpful to some of us, those of us who—"

"Obi-Wan said that Korkie is working the morning shift at the diner," Anakin tells her quietly. "You wanna go get yourself some free breakfast?"

She nods.

"Want a free caf?"

"Korkie doesn't like me. He only gives you free stuff," Anakin reminds her with a teasing smile. Korkie doesn't actually not like him, but the boy had used to have a huge crush on Ahsoka when they'd been little, and though those feelings had since worn off, to this day, Anakin still playfully pretends to be overly protective of his daughter, each and every time that the two of them interact.

"I know," she whispers back, rolling her eyes with a sleepy grin. "I'll just tell him that it's for me."

"Go for it, then," Anakin replies, smiling back, "and tell him that I'll be coming for him if he doesn't make it perfectly for you."

"Will do."

She gets one last kiss from him and then she's off, leaving him behind to listen to Satine complain about taxes. Now, that they can agree on.

—

"Hey," Ahsoka greets, resting her chin on her hand, fingers pushed into the markings on her cheek, elbow pressed to the counter.

"Hey," Korkie returns, mimicking her position, blond hair spilling over the edges of his visor. Ahsoka ruffles it.

"You need a haircut."

"You're one to talk, hairless," he says with a smile, standing up straight and holding a hand out, fingers curled in, in the shape of a fist.

Ahsoka bumps it and so begins the long series of intricate high fives and finger linking—the handshake they'd made up when they were nine years old.

"What do you want today?" Korkie asks with a sigh, just as they finish the last part. Ahsoka shrugs her shoulders with a smile.

"The usual. Oh, and a caf," she calls as he turns around to begin preparing her breakfast.

"Your dad doesn't let you drink caf," he replies, looking over his shoulder and narrowing his eyes at her, knowingly.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't have to know," she sings back, waggling her eyebrow markings. He rolls his eyes at her.

"The last thing I need is for him to find out that I'm disobeying his rules for you. Then he might actually kill me," he laughs.

"Oh, please, you know he would never."

He raises his eyebrows at her and tilts his head, his expression doubtful. Ahsoka supposes that, after all the threats that her dad has made to her best friend, he's got good reason to be scared, even if he knows that Anakin would never actually hurt him.

She's not entirely sure about that, on second thought. Her dad is fiercely protective—especially of her—but Korkie's never done anything to warrant any sort of revenge from him. Well, unless she counts the prank war, last year.

"Here you go, Ms. Tano-Skywalker," Korkie says, somehow making his Coruscanti accent sound even more posh than usual.

"Thank you very much," Ahsoka says in reply, taking her hot cakes and her dad's caf off of the counter. "How much will that be?" she asks, continuing the act.

"A big fat one, right here," Korkie teases, leaning forward and pointing at his lips, hardly able to get the words out before Ahsoka is shoving his face away from hers, sending them both into a fit of giggles. "Don't let your dad see you drinking that!" he calls as she makes her way across the tile floor of the diner, toward the exit.

"I won't!" she promises, the jingle-jangle of the bells on the door following her words.

She takes a sip of the caf, out of Anakin's sight, just like she'd promised, wrinkles her nose and spits it right back out, onto the sidewalk. She's glad it's for her dad; she doesn't want it anyways.

—

okay i had a lot more planned to put in this chapter but then i had too much fun elaborating on the relationship between anakin and korkie, and ahsoka and korkie, and ended up hitting the 1k word count that i'm trying to get each chapter to before i even got into the main plot i was gonna write for this part. oh well, that'll be here soon i guess! have a good night!