Work Text:
Today was the day, and Anakin was thrumming with excitement. He waited impatiently in the backyard for Ben, who was out on a run. It was his birthday, and Anakin had a special surprise for him, one that he’d been waiting on for the past 8 months.
Usually Anakin went with him running, but Ben had snuck out this morning before he’d gotten up. He’d been quiet the last few days, and Anakin imagined that he was a little distressed over turning 35.
Anakin was proud of him. He’d been working hard over the past few months to get his health back in order after being so ill in the winter, hence the running. He didn’t go very far or very fast yet, but it was a start. Anakin, acknowledging his own overprotective nature, did like to go with him. It was hard to get out of his head that Ben wasn’t fragile anymore.
Straining his ears, Anakin could hear him coming around the side of the house to the backyard, where he liked to stretch and cool down. He was humming quietly to himself, and he looked pink cheeked and squeezable, hair tousled and sweaty. Ben gave Anakin his adorable wide-eyed, theatrically startled look.
“Oh, there you are…”
“You didn’t wait for me.” Anakin pouted.
“You were tired, and it’s already hot.”
“You have to come inside… I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?” This time a look of wide-eyed pleasure.
“A birthday surprise.”
“All right, well, give me a minute.
Ben started his usual yoga routine on the grass. Satine dragged him to classes with her, and Anakin knew that he secretly liked it. He was, well, quite flexible, and rather good at it. Anakin watched appreciatively, trying to resist the urge to squeeze his ass when it was up in the air, especially as it was encased in relatively short shorts.
Anakin started to get impatient, thought. He had breakfast ready, and Ben seemed to be taking his sweet time, now moving into push-ups. Anakin had enough. He stealthily walked over to Ben and knelt down beside him, resting his upper body on Ben’s back.
“Mmmph Anakin, too heavy!” Ben said as they both collapsed into the grass.
Anakin rolled Ben on to his back and lay on his side beside him, then leaned down and gave him a kiss. Even sweaty, he smelt good, of his soap and grass and fresh air.
“Anakin, you’re going to get all sweaty.”
Anakin kissed him again. “We can shower in a little while. Breakfast is ready. I have waffles for you.”
Ben sat up and gave him an appreciative look. “Waffles?”
“Yup. I made those fancy ones with sour cream in the batter that you like. Come on.” Anakin stood up and pulled Ben up beside him.
They had a delicious breakfast of waffles with fresh fruit and a side of scrambled eggs. Then, he brought Ben into the living room to see the rest of his surprise. On the floor in the living room was a bag of kitten food, a cat box, litter, a soft cat bed, and a bunch of toys. They had meant to get a cat, but had kept putting it off.
“Oh Anakin, the cat!!” Ben said, and pulled him into a hug. Then, a pensive look came over his face, brows downturned.
“Is this the best time?” Ben asked.
They had sold the house and were to move in a month to their new place, a sunny A-frame home of Scandinavian design, in one of the neighborhoods near the lakes.
“We keep putting it off and putting it off. I promised you a cat. We’re getting a cat. The shelter has a bunch of kittens right now,” Anakin said, setting his face in firm lines.
They showered, together of course, to ‘save water’ and then got in Ben’s station wagon to go to the shelter. Anakin’s bike would not be good for bringing home the cat.
Arriving at the shelter, they signed some papers and then went back to look at the cats. There were so many of them, so many. They all were looking at him with big pleading eyes, some standing up against the bars of their cages crying mournfully at him. There were so many cats. It was so loud.
Anakin suddenly felt a little dizzy. He remembered back to being 9 years old and orphaned, not knowing what was going to happen to him, with no one to go home with but the sad looking county worker. He had thought he’d have to live in some terrible orphanage like in the books his mom used to read him. He’d spent a horrible few days with a foster family until Qui had come to claim him, as he’d been out of the country. He still had nightmares about it.
Anakin leaned against a wall and tried to gain control of his breathing. He didn’t really notice Ben looking at him with concern.
“Anakin what is it? You’ve gone as pale was a ghost.”
“I just got really hot all the sudden.”
“Let’s go outside for a minute.” Ben took his hand and led him to a bench in the dog-walking area of the shelter.
Anakin sat down and leaned his head between his legs as Ben rubbed his back.
“Anakin, love, what’s wrong?”
“I… I just went to a bad place for a minute.” Anakin sat back up. “I remembered back to when my mom died, and I thought no one would want me.”
Ben pulled him into a hug. “Oh sweetheart, I’m sorry.” They sat there in silent solidarity for a minute as Ben continued to support him with his warm hand on Anakin’s back.
“Love, it turned out ok, didn’t it? Qui adores you, and I love you more than anything. We’ll hope it’ll be ok for all the cats. Do you still want to do this? We can go home.”
“We should still get one. I just… I’m not sure about going back in there.”
Ben rubbed his arms a bit. “You wait here and I’ll pick out the cat.”
“I feel terrible; I wanted to do this with you.”
“It’s obviously upsetting you. Anyway, if you go in there we’ll come out with 12 cats.”
Anakin smiled at his dear Ben and nodded. He sat on the bench and watched him go back into the shelter. About 20 minutes later, he got a text from Ben asking him just to come into the lobby.
Anakin walked in, and was met with the vision of a sheepish Ben with three cat carriers.
“Anakin, they were siblings. I couldn’t break them up. It’s not quite twelve?” He looked at Anakin imploringly.
Anakin looked into the containers and saw two black kittens and a silver tabby. They were tiny little babies. He melted.
“Ok, at least the house is pretty big and their boxes can go in the basement. We don’t have enough stuff for 3 though.”
“We’ll go to the store on the way home. One of us can sit with the AC running while the other gets the items,” Ben said, and they packed up the car and left.
“What should we name them?” Anakin asked as he drove to the store.
“Are they boys or girls?” Ben asked thoughtfully.
“I’m not sure it matters with cats, but they’re all girls, at least that is what was on the sheets they gave us.”
“Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.” Ben said immediately.
“That was fast…”
“Well, they’re the Bronte sisters, of course, you know Wuthering Heights and the like?”
“Those are kind of fancy names.”
“Well, they’re easy to make nicknames out of.”
“Whatever you’d like,” Anakin said as they pulled up to the store.
Ben gave him a worried look, glancing back at the mewling cat carriers.
“You sit in the car with the cats,” Ben stated, not really asked.
“What are you afraid of them?”
“A little, they’re tiny and mewing and unpredictable. The shelter lady was with me the last time…”
“You do ok with Peaches.” Peaches was Anakin’s father’s cat.
“Peaches is elderly and sedate. These things are eerily light balls of fluff.”
“All right.”
Anakin told Ben what to buy and they returned home. Their life with their new cat babies was to start now.
Almost immediately, something funny happened. Though they were supposed to be Ben’s cats, they adored Anakin. They followed him around like little ducklings and all sat on top of him if he was on the couch, climbing over him like he was their own miniature mountain and licking his face.
Ben did all he could to win the cats’ favor. He fed them, played with them, and tried to pick them up and put them on his own lap, but they never stayed long. He tried to hide his disappointment.
One night, at the new house, Anakin woke up and felt strangely cold. He rolled over and saw that Ben wasn’t there. The three cats were laying on his side of the bed, taking up as much space as surprisingly small animals could. Anakin got up and went down stairs, finding Ben pitifully wrapped up in one small blanket on the couch. He heard Anakin and sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily.
“I was kicked out of the bed by cats. I think I’ve been replaced.”
Anakin came down and sat beside him, throwing his arm around his shoulders.
“They’re just little cats, baby, you could just push them out of the way.”
“They already hate me. They never want to cuddle with me. They’ve stolen you from me,” Ben said, theatrically pouting, not entirely serious.
“I love our kitties, but I’d much rather cuddle with you.”
Ben leaned into him and yawned, comfortingly warm and heavy against him. Anakin didn’t think they should spend the night on the couch, so he led Ben back to their bedroom and gently put the cats out. Since they were awake, Anakin took a little time to show Ben exactly how much he appreciated him. It was a pleasant night.