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Anakin can’t believe his eyes. He suspects Ahsoka or Rex or Cody can’t either, if their gaping mouths are anything to go by. He doesn’t blame them, he’s doing the exact same thing right now.
Because they’re looking at Obi-Wan. His old master, current closest friend and also half-secret romantic partner. The other half of his soul, the one forever intertwined with him via the Force, his eternal love.
Turned in a loth-cat and snuggled into a blanket. A huge, fluffy loth-cat with soft ginger fur and a snuffling nose as he sleeps in the little nest he made on his bed. Frozen stock still, Anakin barely gathers the energy to crick his neck a tiny bit to the side and look over at the horrified/incredulous faces of his friends.
“What. Happened.” He hisses out the side of his mouth, voice low as to not wake his beloved but also hard and cold to show how immensely pissed off he is. Obi-Wan went through so much in the name of this war, and now he fully turned into a loth-cat? When he was fine an hour ago when he said he was tired and need some rest? (Now that Anakin thinks about it, maybe that should have been an early warning sign that something was indeed wrong and he should have looked further into it. His stupid, self-sacrificing workaholic master would never have said that, rather chew some pills and get right back to submitting whatever was put on him.)
“I don’t know, sir. I just came only a couple of minutes ago to remind him of his reports, saw him like this, and immediately contacted you.” Cody replies in a low voice, then goes even lower when he sees Obi-Wan’s tail – of course he would have a long and fluffy tail – flicker at the volume. Ahsoka is barely stifling her laughter, desperately covering her grinning mouth with both hands, but you can clearly see her eyes crinkling with joy. Anakin knows that if any of them stay any longer, they'll seize the chance to take holo-images of Obi-Wan in this vulnerable state and laud it over him when this… situation solves itself. As Obi-Wan's diligent lover, he cannot allow that to happen.
“Out. All of you. I'll be looking after him.” Turning the scowl up a notch, he turns to glare at the three whose faces drop at the order, unbelieving that Anakin would deprive them of such a view.
“But Master–”
“ Out . Rex, you’re in charge with Cody. Only contact me if there’s an issue that can’t be resolved by yourselves. There shouldn’t be anything since we’re heading back now. And no discussions about this. We don’t want to make this hard for Obi-Wan.” The three – well, mostly Ahsoka – sends him pleading looks and he can sense that she’s trying to sneak her hands closer to the comm on her belt, no doubt to snap holopics before Anakin physically removes her from the room. “I said, out .” He enunciates every syllable to drive the message across, and stands there with crossed arms and blocking their line of sight to Obi-Wan who’s all curled up now.
With a pout, Ahsoka steps out and the two troopers follow after her, but not before glancing back for the last time. Anakin narrows his eyes and that gets them to walk away quickly. He can’t believe his men are like this, so unable to listen to simple commands because Obi-Wan was being too cute. That’s something only he can do.
“Tell me immediately if anything changes, Skyguy,” Ahsoka calls out from the end of the corridor, still pouting. “And say I want a hug to Loth-Wan! I need it!”
“ What did you just call him?” Anakin shouts back incredulously at his padawan’s quickly retreating back. “Snips, Snips!” She only sends a flick back through their bonds and zooms away. Probably to go gossip to the only two other people she can talk to about this.
Muttering underneath his breath, Anakin steps back into the room and makes sure the lock is in place, unwilling to let anyone else finding out. He turns and comes face to face with Obi-Wan, now awake and peering at him from the blanket pile with huge eyes. His pointy ears are twitching in the air and Force , they look so soft and fluffy. The stern expression melts off his face as he steps towards his love, arms spread wide to show that he means no harm. It’s best to assume that Obi-Wan has no memory of him in his form than to risk getting hurt by a surprise attack. While Anakin would be completely fine with being mauled by cat Obi-Wan, the man himself would never forgive himself when he reverts back. If he reverts back.
Shaking that ominous thought out of his mind, Anakin inches closer and closer until he can tentatively sit on the edge of their shared bed, arms still up to show he’s not going to attack. Obi-Wan doesn’t seem that hostile either, just watching his every move and tail flickering in the air in curiosity. Or what he hopes is curiosity. Despite loving loth-cats and feline animals he never put much effort into finding out about their behaviour. That’s more of Obi-Wan’s knowledge expertise. To be fair, the man repeatedly said that he might not always be around to give him tips and that he should try to remember them himself, so. He’ll probably get a earful when, when, Obi-Wan comes back.
“Hey, Master.” Anakin tilts his head towards the loth-cat’s, trying to bump their foreheads together. He’s answered back with a slight nudge, the fur so smooth like his beard and whisping perfectly on his skin. There’s no question about the fact that he’s Obi-Wan. Tentatively, Anakin reaches out to the Force at their bond, but recoils back sharply when he realises there’s nothing on the other side. Their Force bond, the evidence of their commitment and trust in each other hasn’t been severed but severely muted on Obi-Wan’s end, like he’s gone off to a deep sleep and doesn’t know how to come back. Flecks of tears form at the edge of Anakin's eyes, and Obi-Wan mewls as if he can sense the anguish radiating in the Force at the loss. The tip of his large tongue flicks out to lick at Anakin's cheeks, careful enough so the barbed part doesn’t scrape and hurt the skin. Fondness rushes back at the sign Obi-Wan is still in there, still trying to comfort and love Anakin even when stuck in this form.
“You’re still a softy, huh. I don’t know why you’re like this, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make you turn back. I’ll hunt down and read every book in the Archives if I have to.” It won’t be fun, it’ll actually be so mind-numbing that he would wish to be turned into a loth-cat and just play around with Obi-Wan in their matching forms, but Anakin is willing to do anything and everything if it’s for Obi-Wan. Force knows the things his Master had done for him and his mistakes.
As if he knows what Anakin’s thinking, Obi-Wan nuzzles into Anakin's face, purring softly. It’s honestly quite soothing and he’s hoping he can get at least one photo of loth-cat Obi-Wan before this is all resolved. Yeah, he said Ahsoka couldn’t take one but this is Anakin , his boyfriend. He’s allowed to do anything as long as he keeps it between them. Obi-Wan would grumble and snark and become red in embarrassment which is totally cute, but he would also know that Anakin loves him in each and every form. He definitely has permission to take a photo.
Anakin's hands inch towards his comms on his belt, the rest of his body staying completely still as not to give his intents away and also to not shy away from the soft face licking that’s still going on. Obi-Wan has covered half his face with loth-cat drool which would normally be disgusting but he really must be in love because Anakin just feels happy that Obi-Wan isn’t hostile towards him. He can’t wait to tell him about this when he comes back too.
Just when he’s hooked a finger around the comms and pulls up the camera function from memory – yes, he takes a lot of candid photos of Obi-Wan whenever they’re together or in public, maybe if his former Master didn’t want that to happen he should be less attractive all the time – Obi-Wan’s wide eyes narrow and his tail flickers out to smack the comms out of his hands. So apparently he wasn’t being stealthy enough.
“You can’t fault me for trying, oof–” Obi-Wan knocks him over easily with one paw to his chest, rendering him flat on the bed and staring down at him with ice blue eyes. Nothing moves for a split second and Anakin has the feeling of some impending doom on him. “Wait, Obi-Wan–”
Not giving him another second to keep talking, Obi-Wan flops straight down on Anakin's entire body, covering every inch of his long stature until all another person entering the room would be able to see is just Obi-Wan loafing on a bed. No one would realise Anakin was being lightly crushed under there. All of his limbs are immobilised and there’s just the barest gap next to Obi-Wan’s own face for Anakin to poke out from and breathe properly. Other than that, he can’t do anything but tentatively ask Obi-Wan to move and stop crushing him because he doesn’t want to use the Force for whatsoever reason against Obi-Wan. He’s willing to prank and annoy Obi-Wan but he would never do that.
“Baby, can you let me out please? I didn’t do the reports because Cody called for… this before I could get to it and you know how Windu gets when I don’t submit things on time.” The tail bats against his nose with surprising accuracy and a low grumble vibrates between both of their bodies. “I can’t believe you’re still so hung up on me calling them by the proper titles. Fine, Master Windu will be on my ass about this. Can you let me out?” In reality, he wouldn’t be getting out for the report because he hates reports with a fiery passion.
Knowing this perfectly, Obi-Wan just purrs once more and digs his face into the crook of Anakin's neck, then the pressure on top of him increases as Obi-Wan relaxes and puts down his whole weight. Anakin is basically trapped in a warm and fluffy jail created by his own boyfriend, who is now rapidly falling asleep if the rhythmic purrs are anything to go by. Sighing, Anakin releases any intent he had on leaving the bed and closes his eyes. It’s nice and comfortable and he’s being snuggled by the love of his life, physical form notwithstanding, and it’s not like there’s anything else for them to do than rest on the way back to Coruscant, where they’ll find the cure for whatever this is. Might as well cuddle and sleep.
“Night, Obi-Wan.” He presses a kiss to whatever part of Obi-Wan he can reach, and uses the Force to flick off the light switch and plunge them into darkness. They’ll be home soon, but they can enjoy this moment uninterrupted from the war raging outside, just him and his cute Loth-Wan.