Holocron: An Anakin x Reader Story

35 - Infatuation

A/N: This chapter is going to make some of you hurt a little bit in the middle, but then you'll get why I'm doing that and it's going to make y'all smile :D

This chapter is the longest I've ever written, at 5652 words! Enjoy!

Anakin's POV

I  remember being 19 and how it felt on Naboo. Well, maybe being 19 a little before that, too. That's one of those years that are both impossibly difficult to get through and blissfully calm at the same time because life is just so great, you know? Your heart is always pining in agony for someone you know you can't have and beating to your own pace at the same time.

*

It's only been 3 years since I was 19 - I turned 20 just at the start of the Clone Wars (it was a wonderful birthday gift, really), so I certainly remember what it was like to be young, stupid and foolishly head-over-heels for someone I know I can't have. Obi Wan might say that I'm still the epitome of all of those 3 things, but no one cares what he thinks. Unfortunately, he seems to have R2 on his side, for some reason? But anyways, what was I saying? Right. Thinking about it itself is like living it all over again - my memory is vivid.

"Welcome, Master Kenobi!" Palpatine greets in his usual velvety, welcoming and politician-y drawl. "And Anakin, my dear boy! It's so wonderful to see you both."

As usual, Obi Wan is a little more than blatantly unenthusiastic when he perfunctorily inclines his head to the Supreme Chancellor, but Anakin can feel his subtle distaste. Obi Wan has always been somewhat vague on the subject, but Anakin isn't an idiot - he knows Obi Wan doesn't like or trust the politician standing before him. In the slightest.

It's a repeat of the usual pantomime, and Anakin tries to suppress the stifling irritation that arises when he sees his Master treat the man who is almost like an uncle to him as if the latter were nothing more than a common, stuck up, arrogant noble. "Thank you, Chancellor. It's an honour to be in your presence." Obi Wan says respectfully.

Anakin bites back a glare.

Something has him a little riled up today and Obi Wan showing attitude to the Chancellor wasn't helping it. He knows any Jedi would tell him to breathe and flash meditate and calm his thoughts - good advice, but easier said than done.

When Anakin briefly thinks about how sometimes the Jedi don't understand him at all and that their advice is seldom practical, he thinks he sees something very sinister in Palpatine's smile when the latter quickly flicks his gaze to the Padawan, but it's Palpatine - he couldn't hurt a fly.

"We're truly glad to be here, sir. Anything we can do to help." Anakin interjects quickly, trying to make up with enthusiasm and delight for Obi Wan's lack thereof. This makes Obi Wan's head snap to the side as he almost glares at his young Padawan with outraged disbelief, but he quickly schools himself and pretends like nothing has happened - like the fact that his very young and manipulable Padawan has always been a bit too keen on an untrustworthy politician doesn't bother him at all. But if he's being honest, he knows that Palpatine has always gene there for Anakin when the Jedi haven't, even when Obi Wan himself hasn't.

Maybe it's just in his head.

"Of course you are, Anakin. It's always a pleasure to see you." Chancellor Palpatine says kindly, with a smile and something in his eyes that neither Jedi can really read. It worries Obi Wan, but it just makes Anakin beam even brighter.

"How can we help, Your Honour?" Obi Wan asks, trying to cut right to the cake and Anakin knows that it's his passive-aggressive way of signalling that they were doing things by the book this time. That they were here only for business and that they would leave immediately after. It's rude, it's disrespectful and completely inappropriate; imagine if the Chancellor caught on to Obj Wan's outright lack of respect. What an irony, an unkind Jedi.