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Anakin Skywalker, the Cat Smuggler
Entering the facility is a child's play - it's almost like they haven't even tried to make their job right and secure the place, which any other time would have made Anakin at least a bit suspicious, but their research warned them that this planet is inhabited by a particularly unintelligent species of humanoids, one that pollutes the waters with their shit (and this doesn't happen even on Tatooine, especially there) among other things. Unintelligent.
The corridors are large and long, quiet, with lots of dark doors equally spaced between one another and exhibit a simple, ancient footprints detector. In their defence, though, there's very little that a Jedi can't open with a little flick of hand.
It's Obi-Wan who does it, the trick with the hand. The door they've been looking for clicks open without a glitch and-
Anakin hears it before seeing it. It's a noise that comes from behind, like some kind of animal. So he turns back and there watching them there's a cat. A small, sweet, grey cat meowing lightly. While, on the corner of his eye, he can see Obi-Wan's hand going immediately to his lightsaber - as if someone might appear suddenly with the presence of the little ball of fur - Anakin squats down and reaches out.
He likes cats - they're interesting and once, when he was still a Padawan, one of the Master in the healing ward told him that he always lands on his feet, like a cat. Also, cats are low maintenance.
The small creature doesn't seem scared of Anakin but doesn't even get closer - it just watches him with its beady, violet eyes and tiny, perk up ears and sweet muzzle.
"Isn't it adorable, Obi-Wan?" coos Anakin, now bolder in his quest to pet the feline, which let him, albeit a bit wary.
"Yes, Anakin. It's adorable but we have a mission to complete" says the buzz kill.
Obi-Wan isn't a cat person. Or a dog person. Not even a droid person. He's just a person person, especially when these are well-behaved, hard-working, keen-witted. Or Anakin Skywalker.
Reluctantly, Anakin concedes himself one last rub before getting up, parting from the tiny kitten and then disappearing through the door.
They meet again, though.
When the intel they've been sent to collect is secured and they're ready to depart, right next to starcruiser Anakin feels something draw the infinity symbol between his ankles.
He looks down and there it is - the soft cat of before, that appears even more adorable now that it's not stiff like a sculpture.
From inside the ship, Anakin can hear Obi-Wan call for him because everything's ready and he can't wait to leave this place. In a split-second decision - his favourite - he picks the ball of fur up and hides it under his cloak.
He hides it because if Obi-Wan gets sight of the cat, he'll surely have a fit and start a lecture about how inconsiderate it is of Anakin to uproot an animal from its natural habitat, or how it is prohibited for a Jedi to have possessions. The list is probably longer, but Anakin hasn't Obi-Wan's uptight attitude to come up with anything else at the moment.
Trying to pass as normal - and not like someone who's smuggling a forbidden passenger on a ship - and getting to his quarters undetected by anyone, Anakin thinks that the poor, cute animal has no business in an abandoned building and doesn't look so much different than the other cat on Coruscant, so the natural habitat shouldn't be a problem; regarding the Jedi's rule of no possesions, well, Anakin isn't going to keep it - he'll find a proper animal shelter on Coruscant and that will be it.
Fortunately the kitten doesn't fuss - not even when they reach the safety of Anakin's room (just some minor scratches on the leather tabard, but it's not like Anakin doesn't have another spare one in the closet). Its little paws settle on the ground and and it walks over immediately to some piece of scrap metal on the floor.
Unfortunately for Anakin, tough, he can't play with his- no, not his- with not-his new friend, because he has a ship to fly and even if he could left others to do it, it will be suspicious. So he leaves, a brief caress later.
"What took you so long?" is Obi-Wan's question the moment Anakin sets foot in the cockpit, where the other Jedi is already buckled up.
"I had to pee" Anakin answers without batting an eyelash - it's the oldest excuse of the galaxy, but it's classic for a reason, right?
And predictably Obi-Wan doesn't say anything, satisfied.
Checking that everything's in order and starting the engines, Anakin thinks that maybe he should've given something to eat to the cat before leaving, but they haven't any milk on board - Force forbid they eat or drink something with a sliver of taste during missions - and he can't imagine anyone or anything that would voluntarily ingest rations when it's not strictly necessary - Anakin, for example, will gladly pass tonight since in less than eight hours they will be on Coruscant. But the cat must be famished, according to its protruding bones. Maybe there aren't rats on-
"Anakin, are you even listening?"
Obi-Wan's voice interrupts his line of thought.
"Uhm, yes, you were saying that, uh-"
An exasperated sigh saves him from continuing his sputtering, as usual. Someday Obi-Wan will resort to straight open his skull and put information manually.
"I was asking you if prefer your room or mine tonight" Obi-Wan says.
"Oh" is the cleverest answer Anakin manages to give. It's almost seven months that Anakin and Obi-Wan are together, so he's had time to adjust, but he has the feeling that it will never come the day that the thought of them won't tighten his chest or have his heart rattling. Expecially, if it's Obi-Wan - rule-abiding, unthinkably shy Obi-Wan - to initiate conversations, touches or whatever.
The fuzzy feeling, however, is almost fatal because Anakin is one slip of tongue away to choose his own room, which is off-limits for obvious reasons.
"Yours!" he says, a bit forcefully and, indeed, he can sense Obi-Wan's narrowed gaze on the side of his face.
It's required an honorable reatreat, he thinks - already in hyperspace Anakin switches to the automatic control and gets up, measuring his movements with care because he doesn't want Obi-Wan to follow him. He kisses him on the cheek - they're alone so it's fine - wishes him good luck with the Council debriefing and tells him that he will see him later in his quarters.
Hopefully, he doesn't suspect a thing.
Before going back to his own quarters, Anakin picks a ration pack and a bottle of water. To his huge relief, his room isn't a mess of sheets and feathers when he enters - everything is how he's left it, cat included. The small ball of furr is nuzzling, placidily, the floor.
Anakin can't resist the urge anymore and, finally, he sits next to it and pulls it into his arms. The tiny whiskers twitch a bit when Anakin strokes a soft cheek, a paw settles softly on his arm and he has to refrain from crooning like an old cat lady.
He tries to give him - yes, it's a male cat - the ration but doesn't push when the astute pet turns his face away disdainfully.
Smiling to himself, Anakin lifts the kitten to eye-level and proceed to coo smart kitty, cute kitty when one of the paws bats his face so ferociously that Anakin can't do anything else than letting go of the cat and jumping back, with a hand closed around his right eye that hurts and stings and what the karking hell happend!
He doesn't remember how he's got to his feet and reached the 'refresher, but he is in front of the mirror, scared shitless to remove the hand and discover the be blind in one eye. Thank the Force, once cleaned part of the blood the only thing damaged is his skin and eyebrow - a long, throbbing cut streches from forehead to cheekbone and he's only very, very lucky that nothing happened to the eye.
His huge sigh of relief is interrupted by a hit on the door.
Anakin freezes, his reflection revealing a pale man with just one eye widely open because the other one hurts too much and Adam's apple bobbing up and down.
"Anakin?"
It's Obi-Wan. Of course, it's Obi-Wan. That man has the ability to pop up always at the wrong time. The chitchat with the Council must have been quick since it was an easy mission with no particular set-back along the road. Except for the cat from hell, that is.
"Anakin, you okay?" Obi-Wan call again when it's apparent that Anakin's not going to open or even respond.
He has an illegal, evil guest curled up on his bed and a painful, very visible slash over his right eye, so no, he's not fine.
"Yes, it's okay. I'm fine. Don't worry" Anakin says - even he can hear that his voice is telling something and his tone is saying anything but.
Obi-Wan, in fact, doesn't seem reassured at all and overrides the the lock on the door too easily - stubborn Jedi.
Anakin can pinpoint the moment Obi-Wan realizes what is going on: freezed on the treshold, his eyes settle first on the cat, then on Anakin, again on the cat and then they double up in size. Also, it's evident that he's on the edge of a laughing fit.
"Don't laugh" Anakin orders, finger raised.
Obi-Wan nods and covers his mouth behind a hand. "I'm trying" he says, voice all crackly as he's trying to choke back tears, which cannot be excluded, given the circumstances.
Anakin huffs. "Don't laugh or I'll unleash the beast on you"
Apparently this is enough to break Obi-Wan, because he starts to laugh so hard that, well, Anakin's not afraid the idiot might choke for real because he'd deserve it.
When Obi-Wan regains his composure, there's only a light smile on his lips and a thread of affection connecting him to Anakin. He closes the door, takes the remaining steps closer to the wounded Jedi and inspects the cut.
Anakin is almost ashamed when he flinches at the touch.
"Maybe you should have Kix to take a look" Obi-Wan says, grabbing the towel Anakin's been using to clean up the blood - its fabric is stained pink due to the mix with water.
Anakin goes pfft, clenching his eye and letting himself relax under Obi-Wan's ministrations. "It's just a scratch" he downplays as he will never go to the clone medic because of a kriffing cat.
Obi-Wan sighs. "It might have damaged the eye" he says, ever prudent.
Anakin pretends to give it a thought just for one second and then dramatically opens and closes twice his eyelids. "No, I can still see your greying hair" he jokes and then winces when a little more pressure is applied to his eyebrow.
Obi-Wan shakes his head, resigned.
For a handful of minutes the only sounds breaking the silence are Anakin's whimpering and the cat's meow, while Obi-Wan shushes both of them.
The cat is still on the bed, licking his paws and looking like the adorable, fluffy ball of grey fur he was before unsheating claws worthy of a savage beast. How many of them it's tricked into believing to be an innocent kitten, uh? With its seemingly innocent demeanor and scruffy appearance?
"You know you can't keep it, right?" Obi-Wan he muses, the tone of someone who shouldn't even have to ask such a question but is compelled to do it all the same because with their lover you can't never say.
"The thing almost clawed my eye out" Anakin reminds him, though he too doesn't believe his words. He'd keep it anyway if not for the stupid Code - after a good nail-trimming, that is.
I'd call him Windu, he thinks distractedly.
Back on Coruscant, the first thing they do the moment their feet touch ground is find a shelter. The selected one is close to Dex's diner and claims to be the house of more than twenty species of cats alone.
The farewell is a sad thing, all things considered - Obi-Wan even lets his hand brush against Anakin's flesh one for more than it is conventionally acceptable for a Jedi, in public.
And Anakin feels already a bit better when they're walking through the Temple corridors on their way to some well-deserved rest - they haven't slept much on the ship between the eye thing and other things (Anakin's quickly discovered that the scar will be a good ally in seducing Obi-Wan).
Until they meet Windu.
Master Windu, Obi-Wan scolds him even in his mind.
"Skywalker, what happed to your eye?" says the Korun Master, but before Anakin can even think of opening his mouth to answer - what, he doesn't know - he adds: "Do you want a leather patch to go with your tabard?" and goes away, laughing at his own joke.