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tennessoui · 2 years

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Prompt ask! 😍

"I need you, though"

guess who went to the zoo today i went to the zoo today so this is the premise of my zookeeper au in ficlet form

(1.6k) (warning: himbo obi-wan)

Obi-Wan Kenobi is leaning against the post of the goat pin, watching him.

Anakin doesn’t quite know what to do about that, and he decides to table the issue until he has a moment to shoo the man away.

What he can’t figure out is why Obi-Wan Kenobi is here. They’ve never talked. Until this very moment, he hadn’t realized Obi-Wan Kenobi even knew who he was, but when he turns his head slightly to the side to peek over at him, it’s definitely him that he’s looking at.

Of course he knows who Obi-Wan Kenobi is though. He’s one of the best zookeepers in the Coruscant Zoo—and probably the most recognizable. After all, he’s the head of the team that works with the big cats, and everyone comes to the zoo to see the lions and tigers be fed and sleep. And whatever else the lions and tigers do.

It probably helps that the guy feeding them and playing with them is undeniably also probably handsomest man in all of Coruscant.

Maybe not, Anakin doesn’t know.

What Anakin does know is that it’s very hard to look in Obi-Wan’s direction without imagining beard burn on his thighs, a fact of life that’s thus far not mattered much.

But now he’s surrounded by little children, exhausted moms, and goats, sheep, rabbits, and ponies. Arousal is not one of the feelings he should be having at this moment.

He throws the fresh hay down by the stable and wipes the sweat off his forehead. He needs to get Obi-Wan Kenobi to leave because he probably has—like, an actual job to do. He’s wearing his zookeeping jumpsuit, which means he probably should be on the other side of the zoo, prodding sleeping lions or petting tigers.

He’s probably scaring the bunnies, smelling all like big cat and predator and sandalwood cologne with just a hint of spice—

Look, it’s normal that Anakin knows what Obi-Wan Kenobi smells like. They’ve passed each other in the hall before, at work events. He’s pretty sure Obi-Wan Kenobi has come out of the bathroom right before Anakin went in a few times too, so it’s not like it’s abnormal to know how the guy smells.

And the most important thing is he can’t be smelling like that around Anakin’s babies, because they’re probably terrified and they have to put up with enough with all the snot-nosed brats that come in and try to pull their tails or ears.

On his way over to Obi-Wan Kenobi, he sees a little girl in a princess dress doing just that with Cinny-Minny Bun Bun, which is a crime too grievous to go unpunished, so he redirects his body immediately to snatch the poor bunny away from the girl’s grubby little fingers. “You’ll hurt her doing that,” Anakin chides in a perfectly polite sort of voice, cuddling the bunny to his chest. Cinny is quivering. “What if someone came up and pulled on your ears? How would you like that?”

The little girl looks at him for two seconds before promptly bursting into tears. Internally, Anakin rolls his eyes. Kids cry about everything, but they especially don’t like being told that they can’t torture small animals.

Psychopaths, all of them.

He keeps Cinny against his chest as he turns away from the kid and finishes his trek over to Obi-Wan, who is giving him a very unimpressed raised eyebrow.

“You can’t be here, you’re scaring the animals with your—big cat scent,” he says once they’re face to face, separated by the posts of the fence around the petting zoo.

“You’re scaring the children,” Obi-Wan Kenobi points out, which may be the first words he’s ever said to him directly.

Anakin scowls and adjusts his hold on Cinny-Minny. “Children are the worst.”

Now Obi-Wan is smiling slightly, which is a really good look for him. “Your job hinges upon being able to work with animals and children, and—and, Mr. Skywalker, that was a very disappointing display I just witnessed. I understand thata you’re still grieving the unexpected loss of your wife, but you have to keep your personal life from affecting your work, or we’ll be forced to terminate your contract with Coruscant Zoo. I’ll be making a note of this incident in your file for your performance review at the end of the month.”

This is all said very sternly and with a self-assured yet disapproving tone.

But Anakin thinks he’d probably notice if he had a wife and also if she died tragically. He blinks at Obi-Wan and wonders if the man is having a stroke. He’s also pretty sure Obi-Wan can’t actually fire him.

He could probably sic the big cats on him though, which is less than optimal.

“Uh,” Anakin settles on saying.

Obi-Wan’s eyes dart away from his face and then back to him before he breaks out into a grin. “Sorry, the mother of the child you traumatized was coming over looking rather unhappy. I thought if I told you off for your outlandish and boarish behavior, she wouldn’t feel the need to. And she’s turned back now, so. You’re welcome.”

Anakin blinks. “Me and my dead wife thank you,” he finally says. “You need to go though. They can probably smell Split Pea all over you.”

“I don’t actually roll around with the lion as much as you may think I do,” Obi-Wan says, and both of his eyebrows are raised.

“Oh, of course. That’s just the tigers.”

“Chowder and Gumbo enjoy my company, but for the most part I do stay out of all of my enclosures. They’re big cats, not exactly petting zoo material.”

“Which is why you need to leave,” Anakin says again, in case Obi-Wan didn’t hear that part. “You’re scaring Cinny-Minny.”

“Cinny-Minny.”

“Cinnamon Minerva Bun Bun.”

Now it’s Obi-Wan’s turn to blink. “Ah. Of course.”

“All your animals are named after soups,” Anakin says defensively. “Don’t throw stones.”

Obi-Wan looks amused, which is also a very good look on him, the fucker. “I didn’t say anything,” he points out.

Anakin scowls and clutches Cinny close. He’s ninety percent sure she’s fallen asleep.

“You need to leave,” he reiterates. “I need you though,” Obi-Wan says, and then looks slightly horrified. “Your hands. No, sorry. I mean—” it’s the first time this entire conversation that Obi-Wan Kenobi has been flustered, and Anakin would be enjoying it a lot more if he could think past all the mental images of what Obi-Wan could use his hands for.

“That,” Obi-Wan finally spits out, looking mortified as he rubs a hand over his face and uses his other one to gesture at—

Anakin blinks down at Cinny. “My bunny?”

Does Obi-Wan think the petting zoo animals are like class pets that the employees can go home with? How did he get such an erroneous conception and also why is Anakin sort of jealous of a rabbit right now?

“Yes,” Obi-Wan says. “Well, no.”

“Thanks for clearing that one up,” Anakin says gamely. “Want to try again?”

Obi-Wan sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, like Anakin is the one being difficult here. “I…am in need of your expertise.”

“My expertise. In…bunnies?”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan snaps. Anakin blinks at him. “I—my friend is out of town for a month, and he asked me to pet sit for him. And I think I’m killing the rabbit.”

This is pretty alarming actually.

“What?”

“It’s not eating anything and it just—sits in its hutch. I haven’t seen it eat any of the food I’ve left out, and it’s like. Shaking?” Obi-Wan crosses his arms. “I’m worried I’ve given it a terrible case of seasonal depression, honestly, but my friend’s daughter will literally never forgive me if I kill her rabbit.”

Anakin thinks he probably agrees with the friend’s daughter, and something like that may flash across his face because it’s Obi-Wan’s turn to scowl.

“I’ve tried everything that works for my cats,” he says. “Nothing. I’m running out of ideas, Anakin.”

This is the first time Obi-Wan’s said his name, and Anakin finds himself half-distracted by how much he enjoys the way it sounds in his voice. But more importantly: “Wait, sorry, did you—did you, what, give the bunny extra bloody meat? Put the food on a stick and wriggle it around to encourage its predator instincts to come out and play?”

Obi-Wan’s silent for a moment too long.

“Oh my god,” Anakin says before bursting into laughter so fierce that he has to shove Cinny into Obi-Wan’s hands just to clutch his own stomach.

Obi-Wan holds the bunny like he’s holding a lit stick of dynamite, and it only makes Anakin laugh harder. This is a man who routinely walks into small spaces already inhabited by clawed and fanged predators and scratches them behind the ears, but the fluffy bunny in his hands looks as if it may break him.

“Alright, thank you,” Obi-Wan says, sounding more than a little put-out and ticked off. “Alright.”

Anakin’s laughter finally peters out, and he takes Cinny Minny back from Obi-Wan before he can give the rabbit PTSD or anything. “Okay,” he hears himself say, which is weird because he hasn’t thought at all about the actual request, unable to think past the mental image of Obi-Wan trying to find a bunny the way he feeds his lions. “Yeah, okay. Do you need just like—advice or. Pet websites? A blog forum?” “Come over,” Obi-Wan demands. “I learn best through hands-on demonstration.”

Anakin doesn’t say any of the five things that come to mind because they’re all a bit sleazy and he’s better than that. “Okay,” he hears himself say again. “Yeah, okay.”

“Excellent,” Obi-Wan smiles at him before reaching out and using two fingers to gently pet the space between Cinny’s ears.

It’s probably the most attractive thing Anakin’s seen in the last month.

He doesn’t want to think about what that says about him.

#asks #obikin #zookeeper au #prompt fill #this was fun but also for some reason it took me like 4 hours rip my writing brain #i had PLANS for writing today ffs!!!#i'm posting now later than i wanted but i'll probably reblog tomorrow at a better time #so no fun tags on this guy for now #but also thnak oyu for the song recs everyone!!!!!!!!#i am going to make a playlist of them all :D #yall are beautiful <3 #oh!! it's my friend amys bday and shes going to the zoo tomorrow so this silly shit is dedicated to her!!!#zoos are fun!!!#peoplewatching at zoos is even better!!#kids just say the wildest things

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aka-indulgence · 10 months

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Hello @llamagoddessofficial :> Wrote another fanfic fanfic for you! I really love the good zoo siren au as someone who does some marine biologies, and I had a burst of inspiration so I wrote the first day working at the aquarium :D I loved writing the parallels hehee

—————

You were a janitor in the Ebott aquarium!!

Which, when you say out loud, does sound underwhelming. But you didn’t mind it. You had come to them in the hopes of becoming an intern, a volunteer, or a staff if things went your way. The lady at the information desk (who was very helpful), had looked quite apologetic when you asked her.

“I’m sorry… but we’re not looking for anymore creature carers at the moment.”

It was quite disappointing, but you weren’t expecting to get accepted straight away, anyway. And you’d already bought a ticket anyway, so you still had an aquarium day all to yourself, not like you were wasting your day. And you had a great day! If you weren’t caring for the animals directly, you were reassured by the fact that your payment is going to contribute to their care.

The day became even better when the lady recognized you on the way out and stopped you.

“We don’t have positions for carers right now, but… how would you like to be a cleaner? I’ll keep you up to date if there are any spots open.”

Naturally, you took it. It wasn’t like you had anything pressing for your schedule right now. As soon as a position opens- whatever it is- you were going to take it by the throat.

It was your first day. You were blasted with warmth as soon as you went in, having to quickly shed your winter clothes for the janitor uniform. It had little fish on the sleeves, which was a cute touch. It wasn’t the most glamorous job, of course. You spent more of your hours in the toilet than you did in the exhibit rooms. But any agitation you got from coming into a stall, only to see tissues strewn about on the floor like someone just blew up a roll after you had just cleaned; was quickly washed away when you went out, to the cool blues, the dancing lights cast in the darkened rooms. Even when you had to excuse yourself in front of the guests to wipe a drink spill in front of the giant ‘Pacific Bay’ aquarium, the music calmed your soul.

It wasn’t very quiet in the afternoon, what with the families and their 300 toddlers running about and crying babies. But when the day waned and the water glimmers dimmed, the one’s left were adults, couples. Then of course, the aquarium closed.

You worked up a sweat that clung to your uniform uncomfortably, after you scrubbed a mysterious stain on the floor leading to the gift shop that seemed to seep into the shiny tile, somehow.

“Hey, Julia?” You called; the lovely information lady that allowed you to have this opportunity in the first place; wandering about the empty entrance to check out. It felt like a bit of a ghost town all of a sudden, as you roamed the aquariums for any management-type people you could ask for help.

“I’m done, right? What should I…”

You stop when you walk by a doorway, into a room that was always darker than the rest, even when the sun was still up in the sky.

… You could walk back into the dinky staff room in the back of the building where they just gave up on aesthetics, a ‘modern’ and unsightly concrete structure. But… you could also just… say that you didn’t find anyone… right? And just… ‘got lost’... in the Deep Seas room…

Looking around, holding a cloth to your heart as if someone was going to chastise you if you hadn’t, you snuck into the room. It was hard to pass up on an opportunity like this.

Ebott aquarium was special, after all. They were one of the few aquariums in the world that had sirens. Three, to be in fact. One orca siren, one shark siren, and a deep sea cecaelia. A spectacular cast, to be sure- it wasn’t a surprise how they won so many awards over the years.

This room in particular was the cecaelia’s, the most reclusive of all the sirens.

You walked past the languid isopods, the floating nautilus, the sparkling comb jellies, to a giant opening in the room where the ceiling extended so you could see the entire tank in all its glory.

It usually looked empty, of course, but the few chances you get to see the cecaelia, it would be a shame to be unable to see him.

Though, as it was now, the tank looked uninhabited, as it usually was. This siren in particular was ‘shy’, though shy wasn’t the right word. It was more that he didn’t like being looked at, as to be expected with deep sea specieses.

Which is why this was the perfect opportunity for you. Julia told you about him- that he was more likely to emerge during after hours. They had cameras in the viewing room, for the purpose of recording his activity whenever he does something interesting to show visitors that he is in fact real, and they aren’t just displaying an empty tank for fun.

The TV display is off now, but you remember the video they posted online, where the most exciting thing that happened was him shooting out of the cave to grab the food they lowered into his tank, before quickly retreating back into the cave. There were screams of children and adults alike going wild.

You read the information board next to the TV.

Skull, Deep Sea Cecaelia

Sirenus cecaelia aequor

Ebott’s most recently acquired siren, Skull was found floating near the surface, a sign of disease or weakness in deep sea sirens. It is our belief that Skull recently acquired the crack in his skull. This may have caused him to grow uncontrollably, though our researchers argue that it might as well be due to deep sea gigantism.

Not much is known of deep sea cecaelias as of now, as they are the rarest encountered sirens in human history, and extensive observation we do have is in captivity, like Skull.

They are as enigmatic as they are beautiful, deep sea cecaelias are believed to live a mostly solitary life……

Your eyes scan through the text- having read most of it from the other day visit. Your sight is caught on the plaque next to the board, under the TV. You hadn’t noticed it before, with how full the room was. Boarded with wood and written on a golden plate, it reads:

In memory of Henry Freeman.

1975-20XX

Your squint when the gold plating starts shimmering a pinkish hue. And, did it get darker?

You follow the direction of the light to see…

“Whoa-lly shit!” You staggered.

Right there, against the glass, was Skull. He was big, you knew that, his size was listed right there on the board with a human outline next to his to show scale, and you’ve seen the videos of course- but that didn’t prepare you to see him in person.

Just his skeletal upper body dwarfed yours, bones thick and marred with scars of unknown battles deep below, where sunlight couldn’t reach. His pitch black tentacles waved around him like deep shadows in the darkness of the tank, suckers sticking and popping off the glass in tandem. At its base, a single tentacle was thicker than you were.

You held a hand up to your chest. Your heart had jumped at the giant shadow, that glowing red eye of his, the size of your fist, zeroing on you, and a great big smile full of characteristically sharp deep-sea teeth. It must’ve been instinctual fear, having a great predator looking at you, so close, only separated by a couple inches of glass.

The tips of his front tentacles were poking and tapping on the glass.

The initial adrenaline of fear quickly turned to curiosity and awe. You’ve never seen him with your own two eyes before, let alone so close- why was he out? Did he notice the empty room, and the lone ‘prey’ turned away from him and just lunged..?

“Hahahah, am I lucky to be on this side of the glass,” you joked, approaching the glass.

His eye stayed trained on you as you approached, his smile widening. He even lowered his head a little, like he was trying to get on eye level with you.

“Can’t tell if you’re curious about me or if you just really really want to eat me,” you giggle, at the way he was focused on you.

You pressed your hand to the glass, and practically squished your nose to it as you took him in. You could imagine the sounds those great big tentacles were as they moved like midnight waves.

You pull your head back in time to see his eye on your open palm against the glass. A great finger pointed to it, scratching the glass. Then… he presses his hand to the glass, right in front of yours.

Your mouth opens. Your hand just barely fits into his palm. You looked back to the cecaelia. This close, you could see all the little shift in his eyelight, flitting here and there, like he was paying close attention to the details in your face.

His eyelight cast a soft red on your face, your cheeks. A small glimmer in your eyes.

“This is…”

“Eeeeeee!”

You startle at the squeal, sounding like if a squeaky toy could get excited. When you turned around, you see a woman standing at the end of a hallway, in a white coat and white turtleneck, looking very ready to walk in the cold.

“U-uh,”

“How did you,” she strode over to you, long blond hair bouncing as she did, “how did you get him to do that?”

“I’m- sorry?” you sputter. Looking behind you, Skull had retreated a few paces to the back of the glass. “I was just… just…” you shrug, making a face when you remember you’re still holding the cleaning cloth, hiding it behind your back.

“Magnificent!” she stood next to you, one hand on the glass. “We’ve never seen him so interested in a human before. You had him against the glass!”

Skull was swimming around, darting from one corner to the other, keeping his eye on the both of you.

“He’s never done that?”

“Never!” she turns to you, conviction in her voice. “Skull doesn’t like being looked at, he usually hides in his cave when someone walks into the room, not… approach and give them a greeting. The only reason he isn’t rushing back is because he recognizes my face as ‘someone who gives the food’. And like you see now, he doesn’t give me any special greetings. Just having him out and about while someone is in view is stunning, let alone…”

“Oh, so do you feed him?” you ask. Hopefully you weren’t going to get chewed out for dawdling in the aquarium when you’re supposed to be clocked out 30 minutes ago.

“I do help with the feedings.” She says, then extends a hand to you. “Call me Mildred. I’m the head of the aquarium.”

“The… the head?!” Your eyes widen as you shook her hand. “I’m… I’m (Y/n), it’s an honor! To meet you!”

“Oh, please, I’m much more interested in you!” She smiles, the lines around her lips wrinkled with age, evidence of a lively woman. “Say… are you the new cleaning service Julia picked up?”

“Y-yeah! I mean. Yes,” You corrected yourself. You were talking to the big boss here, and you were a little bashful to find that she knows about you.

“You said you wanted experience in animal and magical creature care, right?”

“Absolutely,”

She presses a finger to her lips, as if thinking for a moment. She casts her eyes to the exhibit, where Skull was still circling above. Then she looks at you with a playful smile.

“... How would you like to come into the siren care team?”

Your heart rate spikes, and you sputter.

“I… wh… hhhhhreally?!”

#not gonna write a long fic!!!!!!!#probably #i might get inspo to write other scenes with the other Bones #im an aquarium enthusiast?? maybe???#i like good aquarium :>#heehee #aka writing #fanfic fanfic #fun fact: i have in fact worked in an aquarium! a small one but still!#good zoo siren au

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