#and it has the same effect on him that receiving a lunch from anakin has on obi-wan

[tennessoui]

51, any verse? !!

hello thank you for sending this, it was an excellent writing warm up!

[prompt from this ask game]

51. What’s a non verbal way they say I love you?

so i'm setting this in the kuwsk verse because i was thinking about her the other day and also because if anyone knows how to say 'i love you' in a non-verbal way it's those fuckers who shared a house for years without realizing they were practically married and 100% in love (well, anakin realized the in love bit at least)

i think anakin's most used way of saying i love you is that he starts making obi-wan his lunch and tea to take with him as he goes out the door - he defends this by saying it's really not that much more work to make three sandwiches instead of 2 cause he was already making luke and leia's. yeah he puts just as much love into the sandwich for obi-wan as he does for his kids.b. b ut. but he doesn't want to talk about it.

meanwhile obi-wan is a bit more oblivious but still very dramatic. after the first few years, before they're together but after they've built a family, obi-wan quietly gets the kids' initials tattooed on his arm or chest or something. he also includes anakin's and just. doesn't tell anakin. that he now has a big stylistic 'a' right near his heart.

snippet:

(late may, nine months after the Skywalkers move in)

Anakin feels incredibly silly and far more transparent than he's comfortable with, the first time his hands make Obi-Wan Kenobi a sandwich.

It's nothing, like, actually overt or telling or anything like that. It's just a sandwich. He's made two already today for Luke and Leia, cheese and tomato for Luke, no crusts, ham and cheese and absolutely no tomatoes at all for Leia.

And he'd just gone to the store yesterday too. It had been easy as anything to throw in a packet of sliced deli meat turkey for Obi-Wan. A head of lettuce and a packet of the actual good-tasting cheese he knows Obi-Wan prefers. It was easy.

And it's not as if he's going to cut the sandwich into little hearts and include handwritten notes about how much he loves him in the box. That would be telling. This is just a sandwich.

Still, when he finishes the lunchbox---tucking a small apple and a clementine on top of the sandwich as well as a packet of fruit-flavored gushers he'd included not because he thought they'd be eaten but because he was sure Obi-Wan would find the idea of eating fruit gushers at his age in his very important professor office funny---he has to convince himself to linger in the kitchen.

If he just left it on the counter, he's almost positive that Obi-Wan would accidentally ignore it.

And if he left a bright sticky-note on top of the box, he's sure as well that Obi-Wan would ignore it.

He's not his brightest in the mornings. Anakin doesn't mind.

Fifteen minutes later, at precisely 7:08, the time that Obi-Wan always leaves, Anakin sits up from where he's been slouching against the counter.

A moment later, his housemate barrels through the kitchen, eyes still half-closed and tie askew. It's the lead-up to exams, if Anakin remembers correctly.

It's almost criminally adorable, the way he has to reach out and physically stop Obi-Wan in his tracks just to get the man to look at him. He's in too deep. This is terrible. This is--

"Oh," Obi-Wan says and he blinks at him as if he's surprised to see him. As if Anakin hasn't been up for an hour and a half already and gone upstairs to wake up the twins as well. As if this is not where he normally is around this time of day. "Good morning, Anakin," his housemate says.

"I made you lunch," Anakin blurts out, which is not quite the way he planned this. Though, to be fair, he hadn't. "Here."

He pushes the box into Obi-Wan's chest until the man raises his own hands and takes it from him.

Obi-Wan blinks again. "You made me lunch?"

"A sandwich," Anakin says. "Cause you said the other day you usually just get some crisps from the vending machine. And obviously you need more than that to function, so--"

"So...lunch."

"A sandwich." Anakin stresses, even though he can feel the blush creeping up his cheeks. He's fully dressed but he feels sort of naked standing before Obi-Wan and pushing a lunch that was made with love into his hands.

"Oh," Obi-Wan says. "Thank you." He sounds as if Anakin has taken a stop sign and slammed it into his face.

"I was going to make you some tea, too," Anakin adds. Just for something to say. "But then I couldn't remember how you take it and I know you take that very seriously, so I thought it was better if I just stuck to the lunch, you know, I was making sandwiches already for the twins, it was really no bother. Like, at all. I mean. You even eat your crusts, so that was a relief. And don't worry, I didn't use the American cheese that the twins like, obviously, I got some swiss for yours and--"

Obi-Wan hugs him. Anakin shuts up.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan says when he pulls away. His eyebrows are all furrowed but he looks far more awake now. "This is incredibly kind."

"It's just a sandwich," Anakin mutters, rubbing at the back of his neck. It's not, but he's suddenly terrified that Obi-Wan has seen that. Understood it. Fuck.

"I, ah," Obi-Wan starts then stops, clicks his tongue once, softly, then says, "One sugar, just a bit of milk. A splash."

Anakin blinks. He can't fight the smile he wants to give Obi-Wan in payment for this information, and he doesn't think he should have to. Obi-Wan is a man made of walls and secrets and bite-sized bits of information never given completely willingly.

To be given---to be entrusted with--his tea preferences, it's not nothing. Not for Obi-Wan. And so not for Anakin either.