Chapter Text
Once upon a time, back in his crecheling days, Obi-Wan used to enjoy nighttime at the Temple. He liked doing before-bed routines with his clan, even if his diet didn’t require him to floss. He liked the way the light from the windows shifted in different colors as advertisements changed and traffic went by. He especially liked feeling all the force signatures of nocturnal jedi going about their business elsewhere in the Temple, when it didn’t distract him from sleeping.
Obi-Wan used to enjoy nighttime at the Temple.
Obi-Wan tried to muffle his sobs into the pillow, but his new muzzle protruded far enough he couldn’t turn face-down without angling his neck so far that it hurt. He settled for pulling his blanket up over the thing, hoping that the scant layers of fabric and his cupped hands would be enough to keep sounds of his distress from reaching his Master’s ears.
No need to give the man more reasons to regret training a monster.
It’s not like Obi-Wan meant to be a problem, he just couldn’t help it! He drank his synth at exactly the times the healers told him to, and he was getting so much better at keeping his teeth sheaths from sliding down when someone startled him, and he’d even learned how to make pleasant dinner conversation when the normal people were eating. Obi-Wan thought he’d been doing better.
Yet here he was, not only locked in his room for the night as usual, but now with interlocking iron bars digging into his cheeks and keeping him from falling asleep. He couldn’t lay on his back or the padlock dug into the base of his neck; he couldn’t turn to either side without the additional pressure driving the metal too harshly against his face. And now Obi-Wan was crying, and he wouldn’t even be able to rehydrate because his mouth was stuck shut, and he was going to wake Master Jinn if he didn’t get control of himself soon.
All things considered, it was rather well done of Obi-Wan not to fling himself from the bed when the first wet nose brushed against his hands.
He had been so distracted by his own problems that Obi-Wan hadn’t even noticed the tookas slipping through his vent again. Some jedi he was going to make. Obi-Wan sniffled and propped himself up on an elbow so he could better see his visitors, thankful that his night vision was good enough to tell them apart. There were three of them this time, one on the bed (and now licking Obi-Wan’s hand) with a dark gray patch of fur around both eyes, and two more watching him from the floor, almost identical to each other but for a slight difference in size.
“Bossy, Smidgen, Books; can I help you with something?” Smidgen and Books clearly took this as an opportunity to also join Obi-Wan in bed, but then it’s not like his pity party was an invitation-only affair. “Is that a yes? No? Please don’t let it be more dead beetles right now, hiding the last—” Obi-Wan jerked completely upright, whimpering as he clapped both hands over the muzzle.
Distracted as he was with his guests, Obi-Wan had, for a moment, forgotten about the reason he was awake in the first place. He’d tried to open his mouth too far too fast because he just had to be dramatic, even when talking to tookas, and the metal blocked his efforts so severely it rebounded his upper teeth back down on his tongue mid-sentence. Obi-Wan burst into fresh tears.
It took a few minutes to get his breathing under control (not made any easier with a sniffly nose and restricted mouth), but by the time Obi-Wan was ready to focus on anything outside himself again Smidgen and Books were purring comfortingly against his chest and Bossy was nowhere to be seen. The hysterics must have scared him off, not that Obi-Wan blamed him. Smidgen, the smaller of the two, backed away enough to start kneading his front paws on Obi-Wan’s stomach. Obi-Wan himself pried his hands one at a time from the monstrosity (ha a monstrosity for the monster) on his face and tentatively started petting the tookas currently keeping his sanity together.
A short while later, Obi-Wan was just starting to breathe freely again when Books paused in her purring and tilted her head with interest towards the wall vent; a moment of focusing later, and suddenly Obi-Wan felt incredibly grateful that Master Jinn never came in his quarters at night. Stars above but Bossy must have fetched every tooka this side of the temple for there to be that many heartbeats!
Bossy himself led the pilgrimage into Obi-Wan’s room, smugly claiming a prime spot on his pillow. Smidgen went from kneading at his stomach to pushing on his shoulders, and with Books additional physical insistence, Obi-Wan found himself laying flat with his head at an angle, not quite turned to the side but not putting pressure on the padlock, either. Task complete, Smidgen went right back to kneading at his stomach (maybe Obi-Wan should look into getting him a toy of some sort?) and Books scrambled over him to come snuggle into the space between the muzzle and Obi-Wan’s pillow.
Bossy chirped once. Mayhem ensued.
The rest of the tookas Bossy had returned with, some of which Obi-Wan didn’t even recognize, scrambled for the bed with such ardour he probably would have been concerned, were he not so emotionally drained. Tookas bundled themselves against his thighs, and lounged across his kneecaps; they burrowed themselves to rest underneath his hands and gathered where the blankets dipped at his ankles. Tookas with stripes and scars, tookas of every size; Quinlan Jr. had even brought her new kit with her, who immediately plopped down and started sleeping on Obi-Wan’s sternum.
Obi-Wan smiled, a bit sleepy himself. Maybe the kit had the right idea. Still though…
“You do know you all have to be gone by the time Master Jinn comes to unlock me right?” he whispered. Bossy leaned down and licked his forehead. Obi-Wan would have responded further, really he would; it didn’t do to let Bossy get the last word too often, he tended to get prancy and that led to more grudges Obi-Wan had to settle. But his bed was soft, and the tookas were safe, and his neck didn’t hurt at all, like this. Bant had told him once about the benefits of weighted blankets. Perhaps he should talk to her about the clear benefits of good tooka relations.
Between one blink and another, Obi-Wan slipped into sleep.