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Anakin bit back the first thing that came to mind, which was 'OMG you strange and likable man!' But Anakin had just enough sense right now to catch his mouth and shut it. Look down and swallow his first thought.

"You have magically appearing scars on your back- you deserve me managing my own emotions for a night.... It's okay- I promise. I just didn't know how you would take hearing... well, that they are probably from a whip."

Anakin managing his own emotions for one night....

Implying that he was managing Anakin's emotions for Anakin? ...That was exactly what he was doing, wasn't it? Or at least trying to do.

That wasn't something he could do and it was insulting and --

Yeah there was a moment of realization there and he abruptly let it go. It wasn't easy, something from the memories fought the idea, but he sort of forced himself to move past the urge to protect and feeling that he would never be able to... be what Anakin needed.

"It's all right. I'm not looking forward to the memories that accompany the scars, but maybe it'll provide some context. I'm not happy - this is invasive in a way I wasn't prepared for, at all - but it... I'll work through it. And I'm glad you're here and could tell me."

This made Anakin wonder what was in store for him- so far that alien Watto hadn't beaten him with a whip. But there was a lot of time missing between what he'd seen by now and when he supposedly ended up in Ben's - Obi-Wan's - care. A lot could go wrong in that time.

But he didn't say that to Ben, he'd think about it later.

He wanted to say something that would make this even marginally better, but there wasn't really a way to make this better.

"If you need someone to talk to about those memories when you finally get them, you can talk to me... Those won't be easy memories to get."

"I know I can." He and Anakin had a complicated friendship, thanks to those memories - but he did know that. "And whether I am able to, or want to, talk about them or not I will let you know when I get them. Or anything new, at all."

Anakin knew their friendship was... weird. There were uneven facets to it that he didn't quite understand, but maybe he would some day. They were both learning this as they went.

He nodded, though a part of him felt like some of that was a dismissal. He knew he shouldn't take it that way. Trauma was personal, every person handled it their own way and the best thing a friend could do was be patient, help where they were told they could help.

"Do you still want the pictures?" Ben had asked for that, he could do that, at least.

He wanted to be able to talk to Anakin but he didn't quite have words and couldn't stop minimizing in his own mind. He was disturbed but he was... also just not quite processing entirely what had happened to him.

Maybe because he really, really didn't want to.

"Yeah." He passed the phone back. "Alec took a couple but managed to do a terrible job and overlay a sparkly effect which made it less than useful."

Anakin took the phone back.

His expression soured. "Oh... that asshole?" And he scoffed.

He hit the camera button. "Ready when you are."

He stood back up and got ready again, hands positioned forward and out of the way. He shouldn't have felt as vulnerable as he did, he didn't think, so he ignored it.

"He's not the most personable person," he said, somewhat diplomatically. But he didn't really disagree, either.

Anakin was quick about taking a bunch of pictures. He made a few adjustments to lighting and the angles he took. But overall it was easy given the smart phone technology. His goal was to get this done as quickly as possible because he knew what it was like to be this exposed - so many doctors poking his body of that he jet crash, he was used to it by now: for doctors. Anyone else... he'd be just as uncomfortable as Ben if they were taking pictures of his body instead.

"He told me my life was too easy and had no conflict and that it made me spoiled. That I'm thin skinned, too sensitive, and need to be coddled because of it."

He handed the phone back to Ben. "Do those work or do you want me to take more?"

"...He is aware that you are an Air Force veteran missing an arm, right?" He turned back as he said that, took the phone back, glanced at the scars and after a moment of silently looking closed the app. He didn't want to look that hard.

He went to pull his shirt on, though, trying not to be, again, hyper aware of his back.

"Air Force vet, no. Missing right arm? Ya."

Anakin shifted so he wasn't facing Ben anymore, giving him some privacy.

"Some people deny your pain because it makes them too uncomfortable. Some people do it because they're just mean assholes. You'll learn to tell the difference..." Anakin shrugged. "Alec is just a mean asshole." He said it blandly, like he'd experienced it all before.

"Can I help you with anything else?"

It didn't take him long to pull his shirt back over his head and it didn't need tucked in. He put his phone back in his locker and closed it.

"Can I hug you before you go?"

Anakin only paused for a second. He hadn't expected Ben to want that. It's not like they were overly physically expressive in their friendship. And he hadn't minded, touch was kind of a weird thing for Anakin now that he was still trying to re-navigate.

However, the circumstances being what they were, Anakin didn't really hesitate once the request fully register.

"Absolutely."

He stood up and crossed the distance between them. He didn't have anything more to say, just an honest, solid hug.

Ben had been hesitant and not really inclined toward touching Anakin, but once he finally got to asking and permission, he didn't hesitate, either. He wrapped both his arms firmly around Anakin and just gave him a hug.

It -

It was nice.

It actually did manage to ground him, hoped it made it clear to Anakin that there was a real friendship there and that Ben cared, no matter how complicated things were.

"Thank you," was all he said when he let go.