Work Text:
The knot on his shoe was tied a little too tight and Anakin scowled as he sat down on the bench again to re-tie it.
He would forever question his life choices that landed him in a locker room of a gym, but here he was - surrounded by too many people, his stuff crammed into a small locker, and the smell of sweat invading his nostrils.
His life choices aside, his shoe was at least less uncomfortably tight and he stood from the bench to leave the locker room.
“You’re late,” a pleasant voice teased from the man who had ultimately convinced Anakin to sign up for personal training sessions - Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was standing next to a machine that looked like some kind of torture device and Anakin very much hoped that they wouldn’t be doing anything with that today.
“Yeah,” Anakin said with a sheepish grin. “I had to- My shoe was too tight,” he offered as a weak excuse. “So what are we doing today?” he asked, hoping the answer would be, “Nothing today. We’re just going to establish some baselines and then we’ll be ready for next time.”
Anakin would have no such luck, however.
“Based on our initial conversation, I think today we’ll start with a total body workout to get a better idea of what we need to work on,” Obi-Wan replied with a smile.
“Are you sure?” Anakin asked seriously. “You don’t want to just sit and have a conversation?” he tried.
“And miss out on the fun?” Obi-Wan smirked and tucked his clipboard (something Anakin had failed to notice before) under his arm. “We can start over here,” he said simply, leading Anakin through the rows of mysterious machines to an empty area with mats on the floor.
“First thing we have to do is warm up,” Obi-Wan said, setting the clipboard on the floor and squaring his shoulders as he stood with his feet together.
Anakin scrambled to match Obi-Wan’s position as he assumed he should and waited for instruction on what he was supposed to be doing.
“Let’s start with five walkouts,” Obi-Wan said as if they would be easy. “Follow my lead,” he said as he raised his hands over his head and bent forward, his palms on the ground, and walked himself out to a plank position.
“You should be doing these with me,” Obi-Wan teased and Anakin scrambled to follow what Obi-Wan had just demonstrated and walked himself back to a standing position, following Obi-Wan’s instructions.
“Good,” Obi-Wan nodded his approval. “Just four more left.”
Anakin had mistakenly thought that the first one wasn’t so bad, but as he got to the fifth, he wondered what the actual workout was going to look like if this was just the warm up.
“We’re going to do one more walk-out, but this time stay in the plank position,” Obi-Wan explained.
“I thought this was a warm up!” Anakin complained without thinking.
Obi-Wan smiled broadly and huffed a laugh. “It is,” he smirked. “We have to fire up your core and get it ready to work.”
Anakin started to complain again, but before he could, Obi-Wan was already starting the same movement they had just completed. This time, however, he stayed in the plank position, waiting for Anakin to join him.
“A little more haste, please,” Obi-Wan chided lightly and Anakin once again hurried into position.
“Oh, my g-” Anakin huffed as he let out a sharp breath. “How long are we staying like this exactly?”
“Not long and then we’ll add a bit of movement,” Obi-Wan said and laughed sharply at the face Anakin gave him.
“Now we’re going to tap our shoulders,” Obi-Wan said simply. “Five each side, but keep your hips level like you’re balancing your favorite drink on your back.”
Anakin tried the first one and rocked his hips to the side.
“Do that one again,” Obi-Wan said and sat on the mat watching Anakin.
Giving Obi-Wan an indignant look, Anakin complained, “It was good enough!”
“Again, Anakin,” Obi-Wan encouraged gently.
Wrinkling his nose, Anakin did the same movement again, this time keeping his hips level.
“Good,” Obi-Wan nodded his approval. “Just nine left.”
“Obi-Wan!” Anakin grumbled and did the next one, somehow followed by the next, and then again until he thankfully heard Obi-Wan say, “Last one.”
Anakin collapsed to the floor after doing the final one and rolled to his back. “So that was the workout, right?” he groaned.
“Oh, poor dear,” Obi-Wan said with faux sympathy. “This is merely the warm up.”
Anakin was dead.
Well, he might as well have been as he willed his arm to move to shut off his alarm, but he couldn’t seem to do it without a screaming pain jolting through his entire body.
He didn’t actually know how he was going to get out of bed as his body was clearly resisting all movement. Finally deciding that if he rolled to the other side of the bed it would shorten his walk to the bathroom, he painfully managed to do just that.
“Just gotta get up,” Anakin whispered in a strained voice. “Just sit up. Sit up. Sit up!” he said, hyping himself up.
Nothing.
“Okay,” Anakin sighed. “On the count of three. One… two… three!”
Nothing.
He was still lying in bed, surely dying.
“Okay, you have to go to work,” Anakin told himself. “You have to get up and shower and go to work.” He thought of the stairs at his office building and internally cried. The elevator sounded like a good idea today.
“On the count of five,” he said resolutely. “One… two… three… four…” he waited a second. “Five,” he strained and sat up, muscles he didn’t even know he had screaming their protest.
“I did it,” Anakin said through a fake cry and somehow found the strength to stand.
If he thought the walk to the bathroom was painful, he had no idea what was in store for him as he tried to wash his hair.
In short, he had never been more aware of every muscle in his body.
“Are you some kind of like covert CIA operative testing out new torture techniques on unsuspecting victims?” Anakin asked as they went through a similar warm up as last time.
A warm laugh abruptly erupted from Obi-Wan, but he never lost his proper stance in his plank position. “I take it that the next morning was not pleasant?” he asked through his amusement.
“Obi-Wan,” Anakin said seriously and very strained. “I could barely move.”
“Well, today is going to be legs so hopefully you can at least use your arms tomorrow,” Obi-Wan smirked.
Anakin tried to keep his complaining to himself while they finished their warm up, but as soon as they started on the actual workout, that hope was out the window.
“I think you have one more left in you,” Obi-Wan said, his arms folded in front of him.
Anakin gave it his all on what should have been his last squat and looked at Obi-Wan like he had just said the craziest thing in the entire universe. “You said ten!” he complained.
“Go on,” Obi-Wan gestured, waiting for Anakin to do one more.
Anakin fake cried and did a half-assed final one.
“Nice try,” Obi-Wan chided. “Try again.”
“Obi-Wan!” Anakin whined, but did as he was told, not sure where the strength came from.
“Good boy,” Obi-Wan praised. “I knew you had it in you.”
But Anakin didn’t hear anything past the praise as he quickly stood and dropped his weights. “I-” he cleared his throat and tried to keep the blush from his face. “Sorry. I’ll just…” he mumbled and bent down to pick up the weights. “I’ll put these back.”
“And wipe them off,” Obi-Wan reminded him.
Anakin also barely heard that as he replayed Obi-Wan’s easy “good boy” over and over in his brain.
He was very glad that he was already warm otherwise the blush on his face would surely be obvious.
As much as Anakin hated the idea of working out, he did genuinely enjoy seeing Obi-Wan for his hour of hell. It just happened to coincide with Anakin’s most hated activity.
“You still have two left,” Obi-Wan said, standing in front of him, clipboard tucked under his arm.
“Two?!” Anakin huffed, clearly annoyed. “That was number ten!”
“And we’re doing twelve,” Obi-Wan said, clearly amused at Anakin’s grousing.
Anakin rolled his eyes dramatically as he did the move for the eleventh time.
“I saw that eye roll,” Obi-Wan warned, raising an eyebrow.
“Good,” Anakin frowned. “Because it was meant for you, not me.”
Obi-Wan dropped his head back, letting out a loud, good-natured laugh. “Oh, Anakin. Will I ever convince you that working out is not all that bad?”
Anakin let the handle of the machine go after the last one and grinned widely. “No,” he said resolutely. But in the back of his mind, he thought if anyone could do it, it would be Obi-Wan.
Anakin slouched over his desk at work as he continued his marathon of coding. It was moments like these that tended to lend themselves to less than stellar selfcare habits, but Anakin always reasoned to himself that there was no way that he could possibly take the recommended amount of breaks. He’d lose his train of thought.
And when he lost his train of thought, his mind tended to drift to Obi-Wan. And the way he would very softly place a hand on Anakin’s back to adjust him just so. The way he reminded Anakin to breathe. The way he would firmly tell Anakin that if he tried to speed through movements again, they were just going to redo them.
He shivered at the thought and wondered what Obi-Wan would say about him now - hunched over for hours at a time, barely having drunk any water, sitting for longer than was probably good for him.
Imagining Obi-Wan’s look on his face and the tone in his voice, Anakin rolled his shoulders back and shook out his hands. His back cracked and Anakin winced more at the sound than the pain itself. Maybe it actually would be a good idea to take just a small walk.
“I was thinking of you the other day,” Anakin said and then immediately blushed.
“Oh, were you?” Obi-Wan mused as they walked through a space between the machines.
Anakin huffed a shy laugh. “Yeah, just at work, you know. I was just kind of sitting poorly and I hadn’t moved in a while and the voice in my head sounded like you telling me to keep my shoulders back and my core tight.”
“And did you listen to imaginary me?” Obi-Wan smirked as he set the clipboard down.
“I might have,” Anakin chuckled.
“Well, that’s better than what you do here,” Obi-Wan teased and lowered a bar on a rack. “We’re doing chest today.”
“I feel like we just did that one,” Anakin frowned.
“If by ‘just’ you mean ‘three weeks ago’, you would be correct,” Obi-Wan said simply. “Inclined pushups. Let’s go,” he said and got into position as he waited for Anakin.
“This doesn’t feel like a warmup,” Anakin complained.
“You always say that,” Obi-Wan teased and lowered himself so his chest was next to the bar.
Anakin scoffed and rolled his eyes again.
“That’s one,” Obi-Wan said.
“No!” Anakin protested. “We’ve done three so far!”
“No, that’s one time that you’ve rolled your eyes at me this session,” Obi-Wan remarked simply.
“Well, get used to it,” Anakin grinned. “I have a feeling you’re going to see it a lot.”
“Hm,” Obi-Wan hummed to himself as they continued their warm up set.
Just as Anakin promised, once they were done with the warm up and on to the rest of the exercises, he continued to roll his eyes every time Obi-Wan made some kind of comment about going on with an exercise when, in Anakin’s opinion, they should have already been done.
“That’s seven,” Obi-Wan said, shaking his head gravely. “You can barely go five minutes without doing it.”
“Well, you can barely go five minutes without telling me something stupid,” Anakin frowned.
“The mouth on you today,” Obi-Wan chuckled and he glanced at the clock. “Let’s hurry up and finish this set so we can get to the end.”
Anakin grimaced, but did as he was told. He didn’t rush through the exercise, but he didn’t take quite as long as he might have. He had learned to try to draw them out so that he could avoid doing the last few exercises on the list. It worked better than trying to rush through them since Obi-Wan just made him redo them anyway.
“Okay, last part,” Obi-Wan said as he led them to the place with mats on the floor. “Remind me how many times you rolled your eyes at me again?” he asked as he set aside his clipboard.
Anakin scoffed. “Are we keeping a tally?”
“Just tell me,” Obi-Wan said innocently.
“Seven,” Anakin frowned, remembering Obi-Wan’s clear counting while doing their various exercises. “And you deserved every one of them.”
Obi-Wan nodded, placing a hand on his chin. “Okay, you can do a plank for me for seventy seconds then.”
Anakin dropped his mouth open, clearly indignant at the thought. “Obi-Wan! You can’t be serious!”
“I am absolutely serious, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said, folding his arms in front of him. “Now get into position.”
Huffing, Anakin very reluctantly lowered himself to the ground and dropped his knees to the floor.
“On your toes this time,” Obi-Wan ordered. “You can do it.”
Anakin whined loudly. “Obi-Wan!”
“Come on now,” Obi-Wan coaxed. “We don’t have much time left together.”
On already tired limbs, Anakin popped to his toes as Obi-Wan took a glance at the far wall where the clock was.
“Remember to keep your core tight and don’t dip your hips,” Obi-Wan said, very unhelpfully.
“I know!” Anakin strained. “How much longer?”
“Fifty-seven seconds,” Obi-Wan said mildly.
“I’m not going to make it, Obi-Wan,” Anakin ground out as he felt his hips lower.
“Hips up,” Obi-Wan said, tapping him lightly on his hip bone.
Anakin could have collapsed from that alone. “Obi-Wan! Please! I’m sorry for the eye rolling!”
“I bet you are now,” Obi-Wan smirked. “Forty-five more seconds.”
“Obi-Wan, I’m seriously not going to make it,” Anakin panted.
“Let’s make it to thirty seconds left and you can make the rest up to me next time,” Obi-Wan compromised.
“Oh, my god,” Anakin complained.
“Focus on your breathing,” Obi-Wan reminded him gently. “We’re almost there.”
Anakin took a deep breath in and let it out in one shaky exhale.
“Five more seconds,” Obi-Wan said, staring at the clock. “Four, three, two, one.”
Anakin immediately collapsed to the floor as he tried to catch his breath. “Why?” he pretended to cry.
“Maybe next time you’ll think twice about rolling your eyes at me when I’m only here to offer friendly advice.”
“Stop giving me stupid advice,” Anakin said, his cheek smushed against the mat.
Obi-Wan chuckled softly. “Do you ever learn?” he teased.
“I guess you’re going to have to make me,” Anakin retorted and then immediately wanted to melt into the floor and forget he ever met Obi-Wan Kenobi.
As Anakin readied himself for the gym, he wondered how much Obi-Wan actually cared about his little “make me” comeback. All week, he had told himself that it wasn’t that bad. That he was surely overthinking it and Obi-Wan probably didn’t even remember. That had to be it. Obi-Wan didn’t even remember.
But as soon as Obi-Wan came waltzing up next to Anakin as Anakin was waiting, he realized that there was no way Obi-Wan had forgotten.
“So I think we’ll start today with the thirty seconds left of the plank that you still owe me,” Obi-Wan said casually.
“Really?” Anakin asked flatly, very unimpressed.
Obi-Wan’s mouth twitched into a teasing grin. “No eye roll with that remark? Maybe I can make you learn after all.”
Anakin furrowed his brow into a pleading look and whined.
“On the ground, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said simply. “Now.”
At the firmness in Obi-Wan’s voice, Anakin immediately dropped to the ground and got into position. Obi-Wan was squatting next to him, staring at the clock and glancing every so often at Anakin.
“Keep your hips up and back flat,” he would remind Anakin every so often and Anakin would try to complain, but since words were not easily forming in his brain, it came out more as a slurred, pleading jumble.
Finally, Obi-Wan said, “Ten seconds.”
Anakin did his best to keep his core tight as Obi-Wan counted down.
“Five, four, three, two, one,” Obi-Wan said and Anakin fell to the floor. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Why are you like this?” Anakin complained.
“Because it works,” Obi-Wan smirked. “Now, shall we get to our actual workout?”
“I think that should count,” Anakin frowned, rolling onto his back.
“Oh, we have a lot of making you learn today,” Obi-Wan chuckled and stood from the floor, clearly expecting Anakin to follow.
Anakin rose from the floor, trudging after Obi-Wan who was making his way to a different part of the gym.
“You know these warm ups by now,” Obi-Wan said as he stood directly in front of Anakin, his shoulders square and head held high.
Anakin dropped his head back and groaned as he matched Obi-Wan’s stance and held his arms close to his chest, his hands clasped together under his chin.
“Good,” Obi-Wan said and began the movement.
“Do you enjoy hurting people?” Anakin whined as they continued their warm up.
“Only the people that I know can take it,” Obi-Wan said with a small wink.
Anakin huffed an abrupt laugh. “And you think that’s me?”
“I think you can take more than you think you can,” Obi-Wan shrugged.
Anakin shook his head in disbelief and didn’t say anything else throughout the warm up. He was afraid if he did, he might say something rather foolish or worse: roll his eyes. And he definitely did not want to do any more planks.
He successfully made it through a few exercises without saying anything too incriminating until the leg press.
And then everything fell apart.
Anakin had his legs on the platform above him, Obi-Wan sitting next to him. “You’re overextending your lower back when you push up. Stop that.”
Anakin turned his head and wrinkled his nose, but otherwise didn’t say anything.
“If I ask you if you feel it in your lower back, your answer should be ‘no, sir’,” Obi-Wan warned.
“What?” Anakin asked quickly. He must have misheard. There was no way Obi-Wan said that to him.
“Do you feel it in your lower back?” Obi-Wan asked directly.
Anakin let out a very strained, low whine. “No, sir,” he said eventually. The word ‘sir’ felt foreign and strange in his mouth, but it had an undeniable quailing effect.
“There’s a good boy,” Obi-Wan smirked.
Anakin blushed and accidentally let the press fall back.
“Whoa, careful!” Obi-Wan said, helping Anakin get reoriented and reset.
“Sorry,” Anakin mumbled and shut his eyes, sweat dripping from his forehead. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
Obi-Wan just gave him a gentle laugh. “It’s alright. You weren’t hurt and that’s what matters. Why don’t we start over?”
“Obi-Wan!” Anakin protested, lifting his head off of the bench.
“I think you mean ‘sir’,” Obi-Wan said with a teasing grin and waited for Anakin to reset.
“You are the…” Anakin finished the last two words in a grumble under his breath as he pushed his legs up on the press again.
“What was that, Anakin?” Obi-Wan held up a hand to his ear, a playful smile on his lips.
Anakin turned his head and stared directly at Obi-Wan. “Fucking worst. You are the fucking worst.”
“You should be nice to me,” Obi-Wan laughed mischievously. “I’m the one controlling your workout.”
Anakin groaned loudly and a patron on the machine across from him lifted his head, staring at him curiously.
You’d be doing the same thing if you were me, he thought sourly.
The rest of the workout was as awful as Anakin knew it was going to be and by the time they were finishing with their final core workout, Anakin didn’t actually know if he would make it out of the gym. Someone might actually have to carry him out.
He wondered if Obi-Wan would be able to pick him up. He seemed strong enough. Whenever he was demonstrating something for Anakin, he always seemed as if he were barely even working.
That was the thought that occupied him as he sat in the locker room, pondering his decisions that had led him to this moment. Eventually, however, he managed to stand up on shaky limbs and walk out of the locker and towards the front to leave.
Apparently, just as Obi-Wan was leaving.
“Ah, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said with a warm smile as he held the door open for Anakin to follow behind him.
Anakin would have done a polite little run so that Obi-Wan wouldn’t have to hold the door open for as long, but he was fairly sure his legs couldn’t do it.
“Obi-Wan,” Anakin groused playfully when he caught up to Obi-Wan and stepped through the open door.
“I thought you would have left a while ago,” Obi-Wan said casually as they walked towards the parking lot.
Anakin stopped Obi-Wan with a hand on his shoulder. “I couldn’t stand up from the bench in the locker room,” he said seriously.
Obi-Wan’s face broke out in a good-natured grin. “Then it’s a good thing you didn’t roll your eyes at me this session,” he laughed. “I had something really fun planned for you.”
“You really need to rethink your definition of ‘fun’,” Anakin frowned as they continued walking. “Is this what you say is fun to your… girlfriend? Boyfriend?”
Smooth, he thought as he held back a cringe.
“Ah, no,” Obi-Wan chuckled. “ If I had a boyfriend or girlfriend, this would not be my definition of fun.”
“So it’s only a definition of fun for me,” Anakin frowned. He stopped when they had made it to his car and Anakin expected Obi-Wan to leave, but instead he stopped too.
Obi-Wan looked as if he were scrutinizing every feature on Anakin’s face before he said, “I think you have more in you than you realize. And my hope is that someday you see that too.”
Anakin huffed and rolled his eyes.
“I’ll count that one for next time,” Obi-Wan winked.
“Oh, Obi-Wan,” Anakin complained.
“See you next week, Anakin,” Obi-Wan smiled and continued his walk to his car.
And Anakin found himself actually looking forward to the prospect, even though his legs were barely holding him up. But he couldn’t tell if it was from the workout or from the extra time with Obi-Wan.
“Thank you for meeting me later than our normal time,” Obi-Wan said as he met Anakin in their usual place.
Anakin shrugged. “It’s fine. I wasn’t doing anything anyway.”
“Did you eat dinner before you came here?” Obi-Wan asked as they walked through the relatively empty gym to the empty mats.
Sighing, Anakin took the long pvc pipe from Obi-Wan and automatically started doing the movements. “Nah, I thought I’d just get something after. If I can actually pick up the food and put it in my mouth, that is.”
“You have a knack for exaggeration,” Obi-Wan chuckled.
“I’m being serious, Obi-Wan,” Anakin said, keeping a straight face. “I can barely move after one of these.”
“Then you should probably stretch like I told you how,” Obi-Wan chided.
“But when I’m done I just want to leave,” Anakin pretended to pout.
“Oh, then I suppose you are just going to continue to suffer,” Obi-Wan shrugged. “That was five, go the other way now.”
Anakin took the pipe and switched the move so it was going the opposite way. “I always suffer when I’m with you.”
“Oh,” Obi-Wan pretended to look hurt. “You don’t mean that.”
Anakin rolled his eyes. “No, I don’t.”
“Good,” Obi-Wan said with a smile. “And that was two.”
Anakin was right again: there was no way he was going to be able to move his arms after all of this because by the end of the workout and doing his eye roll punishment, he was at his limit.
“Why are you lying on the mat, Anakin?” Obi-Wan asked as he stood above Anakin, his arms folded in front of him.
“Because I’m dead,” Anakin mumbled, his eyes closed.
“Then how come I can hear you talking?” Obi-Wan asked, tilting his head to the side.
Anakin whimpered and rolled to his back, staring up at Obi-Wan. “Please don’t make me do more mountain climbers! I promise to never roll my eyes at you again.” He gave the best ‘hurt puppy’ expression that he could.
“Please?” he tried one last time.
Obi-Wan tsked and placed his hands on his hips. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Anakin tried to raise his arms in a celebratory way, but couldn’t actually lift them and just made a half-hearted attempt with a grimace on his face.
“I’ll help you stand up,” Obi-Wan said, holding out his hand for Anakin to take.
Anakin eagerly took it, stumbling to his feet, but forgetting to let go once he had found solid ground. “Sorry,” he mumbled when he realized he had held on for a little longer than was absolutely necessary.
But Obi-Wan hadn’t let go either.
“Hm,” Obi-Wan hummed. “I’ll see you next week, Anakin,” he said warmly. “And since you’re going to go find some dinner, remember to eat some protein and be sure to stretch before you leave.”
Anakin almost rolled his eyes at that, but instead said playfully, “Yes, sir,” as Obi-Wan walked away.
He made his way into the locker room to gather his things and decided that maybe sitting down wasn’t the best idea since he didn’t know if he would actually be able to stand once he did. Deciding he would just leave his gym shoes on, he pulled his backpack from his locker and headed out.
“You again?”
Anakin looked up at the familiar voice and Obi-Wan was arching an eyebrow at him from the exit doors, holding open a door for Anakin.
“Didn’t I tell you to stretch before you left?” Obi-Wan asked as Anakin drew closer.
“But I just want to go home,” Anakin complained.
Obi-Wan shook his head and sighed as Anakin walked through the door and into the night air. “What am I going to do with you?”
Anakin huffed a laugh, not actually knowing how to answer the question. “Do you make all your clients do extra work for rolling their eyes at you?” he asked casually as they walked towards their cars in the relatively empty lot.
“No,” Obi-Wan mused. “Just you.”
“You really are the worst, you know that?” Anakin teased.
“Oh, I don’t think you really mean that,” Obi-Wan smirked.
No, Anakin didn’t, but he certainly couldn’t tell Obi-Wan what he actually thought of him. “This is my car,” Anakin said, stopping in front of it.
“Alright, put your bag down and we’re going to do some stretching,” Obi-Wan said simply as he dropped his gym bag to the ground.
“Noooo,” Anakin whined.
“Come on now,” Obi-Wan said simply and waited for Anakin to put down his bag.
“Why are you like this?” Anakin complained, standing in front of Obi-Wan.
“Because I care about you, Anakin,” Obi-Wan shrugged. “Roll out your shoulders,” he said, demonstrating what Anakin should be doing. “And bring an arm behind your back.”
Anakin copied Obi-Wan’s movements, wincing at the ache in his muscles.
“If it’s sore, you should hold it there for a little while,” Obi-Wan said. “Don’t teach your body to retreat from pain.”
“Oh, my god, Obi-Wan,” Anakin scoffed and rolled his eyes despite his promise.
“Anakin!” Obi-Wan scolded. “You couldn’t even make it fifteen minutes without breaking your promise to me.”
“Well…” Anakin huffed. “Stop saying stupid shit!” he snapped.
“You are the most frustrating-” Obi-Wan stopped himself, a frown clear on his face, his patience seemingly at an end.
“ I’m frustrating?” Anakin said in disbelief. “Me? You’re the one who keeps telling me to breathe right and telling me to keep my core tight and-”
But Anakin’s words were suddenly interrupted by a kiss. Anakin leaned into it, unable to deny that is exactly what he wanted to have happen, he just didn’t expect it.
By the time they broke apart, Anakin was panting and Obi-Wan was giving him an expression he had never seen before.
“What was that for?” Anakin asked, breathlessly.
“I think it’s the only way I’ve ever gotten you to stop complaining,” Obi-Wan said, a nervous grin on his face.
“Do it again or I’m just going to keep complaining,” Anakin said with a crooked smile.
This time when Obi-Wan leaned in, Anakin was ready. Obi-Wan reached around Anakin’s waist, pulling him in to close any gaps between them and Anakin groaned embarrassingly loud.
Obi-Wan’s hands trailed down Anakin’s back to over his tail bone and smacked once on Anakin’s backside.
Gasping, Anakin broke the kiss, tilting his head to look down at Obi-Wan. “Did you just spank me?”
“I’ve been wanting to do that since you first rolled your eyes at me,” Obi-Wan said and gave Anakin another hard swat.
Anakin breathed deeply through his nose, thinking he definitely didn’t hate it. “What else have you wanted to do?”
Obi-Wan gave Anakin a wicked grin and glanced around the parking lot.
“Bend over the trunk,” Obi-Wan said simply, taking a step back. He crouched to retrieve something from his gym bag.
“Why?” Anakin asked.
“Because I told you to do something,” Obi-Wan said firmly.
Anakin did as he was told, bending over the trunk of his car. Obi-Wan was soon standing next to him and Anakin was about to ask what Obi-Wan was going to do, but a harsh sting suddenly erupted across his backside.
“Obi-Wan!” Anakin yelped.
“This is for every single one of those eye rolls you give me,” he said and placed a hand on Anakin’s center back. He held him down before delivering two more well placed smacks right above Anakin’s thighs.
“I’m sorry,” Anakin said, not really all that sorry if this is where it landed him. Actions may have had consequences, but he wasn’t necessarily worried about footing this particular bill.
A few more smacks landed on his backside while Obi-Wan lectured, “And this is for lying to me about stretching when you get home.”
“Ah!” Anakin cried out at another spank. “I really was going to do it at home!”
“Stop lying to me,” Obi-Wan warned in a sing-song voice, letting a volley of swats rain down on Anakin’s behind.
Anakin couldn’t really argue with that. He wasn’t actually going to stretch when he got home. He had just said it because it felt like that’s what Obi-Wan wanted to hear.
“Okay, I promise to do it at home,” Anakin tried.
“I’m sure you will now,” Obi-Wan said easily and stopped the barrage of smacks when he removed his hand from Anakin’s back.
“Ow,” Anakin pouted, standing up and holding his hands on his backside. His eyes immediately fell to the hairbrush in Obi-Wan’s hand. “That hurt.”
“Good,” Obi-Wan said simply and crossed his arms in front of him. “Remember it tonight when you go home and stretch.”
Anakin frowned, still clutching his tender behind.
“I’ll do it again if I find out you didn’t,” Obi-Wan warned and picked up his gym bag, returning the hairbrush to its proper place.
“Do you spank all your other clients too?” Anakin asked with a playful grimace.
“No,” Obi-Wan said simply. “Just the one I care about.” He slung his gym bag over his shoulder and leaned forward, pressing another kiss to Anakin’s lips.
“You’re going to eat some protein when you get home, right?” he said, tilting his head to the side.
Anakin smirked. “I guess I have to.”
“Yes,” Obi-Wan said with a crooked smile. “You do.” He paused for a brief second and put his hand on his chin. “I’ll text you,” he said.
Anakin snorted a small laugh and looked at the ground. “You better,” he said, raising his head to meet Obi-Wan’s gaze.
“I’ll see you later, Anakin.” And with that, Obi-Wan walked away.
As much as Anakin wanted to complain about Obi-Wan’s new way of encouraging him, he had to admit, it worked. As soon as he got home, he stretched, just like Obi-Wan had shown him how when they first started their training together.
He didn’t feel like waiting for Obi-Wan to text him so as soon as he was done stretching, he took out his phone.
[Anakin] I’m eating peanut butter toast with a banana
[Obi-Wan] Good boy
[Obi-Wan] Finally listening to me ;)
[Anakin] Don’t get used to it
Anakin hated to admit it, but stretching and eating something other than junk food did actually help. The next morning, he wasn’t nearly as sore as he normally was.
As he sat in his chair at work the next day, he was almost disappointed to find that he couldn’t actually still feel the sting from the night before. He was kind of hoping that he might be able to, but he supposed that maybe Obi-Wan had stopped because of all of his complaining.
That was something Anakin tended to do a lot - complain. Even for minor things. Even for things he didn’t even need to complain about. He just did it because it was fun to push people’s buttons.
But now he had finally met a person who put him in his place and didn’t take that kind of behavior.
If Anakin thought he was in trouble before, he had quite a bit to learn.
[Anakin] Want to come over for dinner?
[Anakin] I can make peanut butter toast with a side of sliced banana
[Anakin] It’s very fancy
Anakin gazed at his phone hoping he didn’t come off as too forward, but Obi-Wan had gone the entire day without texting him. And Obi-Wan was the one who had kissed him in the parking lot. And not just kissed. Spanked him in the parking lot.
Asking Obi-Wan to come over for a silly dinner was not at all forward. And Anakin really needed to know what they were doing preferably before they saw each other again for their personal training sessions.
[Obi-Wan] I have a session that goes until 7. Can I come after?
[Anakin] Oh so you’ll need some protein then
[Anakin] I’ve got you covered
[Obi-Wan] How thoughtful of you
Anakin sent over his address and now he’d have to do the most difficult task of all and wait.
“Hi,” Anakin said with an awkward grin when he opened his door to see Obi-Wan standing in front of him.
“Hello, there,” Obi-Wan replied with a small smile. When Anakin didn’t say anything else, he asked, “Is it alright if I come in or are we eating dinner out on your stoop?”
Anakin huffed a small laugh and stepped aside. “You can come in.”
Obi-Wan entered, sliding past Anakin and toed off his shoes. “I’m eager to try this fancy dinner you have prepared.”
“Well, only the finest for you,” Anakin chuckled.
“Perhaps I should check it for poison first,” Obi-Wan teased as he followed Anakin into his kitchen. “Seeing as I honestly thought you hated me for a while.”
Anakin stopped in his tracks and stared at Obi-Wan. “That was just… I complain a lot.”
Obi-Wan snorted a laugh. “Don’t I know it?”
“Yeah,” Anakin paused. “Sorry about that.” He continued staring at Obi-Wan for a brief moment. “Did you really think I didn’t like you?”
Shrugging, Obi-Wan said gently, “When we first met. Obviously, I changed my mind on the matter.”
“Yeah,” Anakin huffed. “That’s obvious.” He led them to the kitchen where he put a few slices of bread into his toaster.
“But I suppose I should apologize,” Obi-Wan started slowly.
“For spanking me?” Anakin asked playfully with a crooked grin.
“No,” Obi-Wan said simply. “You deserved that.”
Anakin dropped his mouth open and said indignantly, “Obi-Wan!”
“I want to apologize for not kissing you sooner,” Obi-Wan smirked.
“You should apologize for that,” Anakin said seriously as he got the peanut butter from the cupboard.
“Hm,” Obi-Wan hummed in agreement, sitting at the small kitchen table while Anakin prepared their meal.
“Are you going to do that again?” Anakin asked hesitantly as he placed a plate in front of Obi-Wan.
“Kiss you?” Obi-Wan asked. “I have every intention of doing that again.”
Anakin’s instinct was to roll his eyes, but thought better of it. “No,” he said flatly. “Spank me.”
“I suppose that’s up to you,” Obi-Wan shrugged and took a bite of his toast.
Anakin eked out as many “good boys” from Obi-Wan as he could during their training session. He began his warm up without any complaint, without any eye roll, without as much as a playful jab at Obi-Wan’s expense.
And it worked.
Without all of Anakin’s protests, the workout actually only took the set time and there was enough time at the end for the two of them to stretch together.
“There,” Obi-Wan said, breathing a relaxing sigh and releasing his arm from the final hold he had had it in. “Now wouldn’t you say that was a much better workout than normal?”
“Yes,” Anakin admitted sheepishly.
“I’m glad to see our parking lot conversation got through to you,” Obi-Wan said mildly.
“I wouldn’t really call it a conversation,” Anakin smirked.
“Hm,” Obi-Wan hummed. “Well, I’m happy to revisit the conversation any time.” He stood from the floor and held out a hand for Anakin to take.
“Remember to eat some protein when you get home too,” Obi-Wan said as he helped Anakin stand.
“Or you’ll have a conversation with me again?” Anakin chuckled.
“Yes,” Obi-Wan nodded.
“Still coming over tomorrow?” Anakin whispered.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Obi-Wan murmured.
“I’m sorry, darling, but our time is up,” Obi-Wan said, glancing at the clock on the far wall as Anakin completed the last rep in his set. “But there isn’t much left. Just the Russian twists and then another set of this.”
Anakin groaned, letting his head fall back.
“Make sure you do those before you go home,” Obi-Wan said seriously. “And I’ll see you tonight,” he finished with a small smile.
“Yeah, alright,” Anakin mumbled, shooing Obi-Wan away. “Go take care of your other stuff.”
Obi-Wan gave him a good-natured pat on the back and left Anakin to his own devices. As soon as Obi-Wan was around the corner and out of sight, he wiped off the handle of the machine and snuck into the locker room. The last thing he wanted to do was stay at the gym by himself. He was really only there for Obi-Wan at this point.
As he left the locker room, he peeked out towards the machines to see if Obi-Wan was already working with his next client, but couldn’t find him. He walked towards the exit only to see Obi-Wan standing behind the desk.
“There’s no way you finished your workout!” Obi-Wan called after Anakin as he rushed towards the doors.
“See you later!” Anakin yelled behind him as he blatantly ignored Obi-Wan and left the building.
Anakin was still smiling to himself as he headed towards his front door, knowing Obi-Wan would be on the other side of it.
Before he could say anything, however, Obi-Wan was shaking his head and holding his hairbrush up for Anakin to see.
“Did you need to brush your hair?” Anakin teased even as his stomach swooped knowing what was coming.
“I know you didn’t finish your workout today,” Obi-Wan said, pressing his mouth into an alluring smirk. “So I think we’ll finish it now.”
“Then why do you need your hairbrush?” Anakin continued to press as he stepped aside to let Obi-Wan in.
Obi-Wan scoffed playfully and shook his head. “You are really asking for it, aren’t you?”
“Asking for what?” Anakin asked innocently.
“I suppose you’ll find out,” Obi-Wan shrugged and sat down on Anakin’s couch.
“I thought we were having dinner,” Anakin teased. “My couch isn’t in my kitchen.”
“I should have known you would be just as mouthy outside of the gym as you are inside of it,” Obi-Wan said, beckoning Anakin to him with a finger.
Anakin walked to stand in front of Obi-Wan. Since that first time in the parking lot, Obi-Wan had taken Anakin over his knee a few times, often for rather silly reasons. Sometimes Anakin would purposely not stretch. Sometimes he would roll his eyes just to see Obi-Wan’s reaction.
This time was no different. He couldn’t deny that there wasn’t a part of him that had left the gym early knowing exactly what Obi-Wan would do.
Anakin pulled down his gym shorts and lowered himself over Obi-Wan’s lap, settling himself in.
Without another word, Obi-Wan brought the brush down on Anakin’s backside.
“Ow!” Anakin complained. “I thought you liked warm ups.”
Obi-Wan chuckled as he spanked a few more times on Anakin’s sit spots. “Not this time, I suppose.”
“It really hurts,” Anakin frowned, squirming across Obi-Wan’s lap as Obi-Wan smacked with the hairbrush, peppering Anakin’s entire backside.
“That’s rather the point, darling,” Obi-Wan mused.
Anakin shifted to try to get away, but Obi-Wan kept him in place with an arm around his waist as he continued striking Anakin’s behind with his hairbrush, making Anakin’s bottom turn pink and then a lovely shade of light red.
“Remember to breathe,” Obi-Wan reminded Anakin.
“Should I keep my core tight too?” Anakin shot back, his voice slightly strained by the increasing pain in his backside. He was finding out that Obi-Wan really didn’t do anything half-assed.
Obi-Wan laughed softly. “Such big talk for someone who is currently over my lap and being spanked for being a little brat and not doing as he’s told.” He punctuated the point with a particularly hard swat.
“I didn’t want to finish the workout without you,” Anakin pouted and kicked his feet when Obi-Wan spanked again.
“Well, then you are quite lucky that I’m here to make sure we finish it together, aren’t you?” Obi-Wan said easily and finished the spanking with a few hard smacks.
Anakin immediately pushed himself back up and pulled up his boxers and gym shorts. “Are we really going to finish the workout?” he frowned.
“When have I ever said we’re going to do something and then not followed through?” Obi-Wan asked, arching an eyebrow. He set the hairbrush on the coffee table and made his way to the floor. “You should be joining me down here,” he scolded playfully.
Anakin whined, but dropped to the floor, settling on his rather sore behind. He got into position, his legs bent and leaning back while holding his clenched hands at his chest.
“Feet off the ground,” Obi-Wan instructed and matched Anakin’s movements. “And go.”
Wincing from the pain in his backside, he matched Obi-Wan’s movements, twisting first to the left and then to the right and back and forth while Obi-Wan counted.
“My butt hurts,” Anakin complained after Obi-Wan said “eleven.”
“Maybe you should have done them when I told you to,” Obi-Wan said simply. “Twelve.”
Anakin made a face at him, but continued the exercise until finally Obi-Wan had counted out the full twenty. He collapsed to the floor, splaying his limbs out.
“Why are you like this?” he pretended to sob.
“Oh, poor boy,” Obi-Wan said with exaggerated sympathy. “We still have to do that set again.”
“No!” Anakin protested. “Please! I’ll do anything.”
Obi-Wan gave him a crooked grin as he crawled on top of Anakin and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Anything?” he murmured.
Anakin nodded eagerly. “Please?”
“Will you sit with me on the couch?” Obi-Wan smiled.
Snorting a small laugh, Anakin said with absolute certainty, “Duh.”
Obi-Wan backed off as Anakin pushed himself up from the floor and dramatically flopped onto the couch. Obi-Wan sat beside him, wrapping his arms around Anakin’s shoulders and pulling him into a kiss.
“What are we going to have for dinner?” Obi-Wan murmured as Anakin rested his head on Obi-Wan’s shoulder.
“Peanut butter toast,” Anakin teased and relished the warm laugh that Obi-Wan gave in reply.
“What was I thinking?” Obi-Wan chuckled.
“Maybe you were thinking that you’d stay the night?” Anakin asked, trying to mask his shyness.
“You know, that must be what I was thinking,” Obi-Wan whispered and pressed a soft kiss to the tip of Anakin’s nose.