#hey look it's mush written mostly during the day rather than at midnight

[rainintheevening]

40 - “I made this for you.” - Anakin and Obi-Wan? (or Anakin and pretty much anyone; this is such an Anakin line)

Thank you, you lovely Anon, these boys are my bread and butter. For this one I'm going with the small town modern AU, otherwise known as the Galaxy City, KS AU. The only thing you really need to know is that Anakin and Obi-Wan are adoptive brothers. Anakin is like 15, so Obi-Wan is 30.

From 100 ways to say ILY

40. "I made this for you."

Anakin chewed on his bottom lip, kicking his feet against the rung of his chair.

The square root of 270 to the fourth decimal...

He tapped his pencil against the table top, softly at first, but louder as the sound caught his attention.

"Can you stop?" Obi-Wan asked shortly, not looking up from his text book.

Anakin stopped.

He stared again at his own school workbook. The square root of 270...

The square root of 270...

The square root...

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan glared across the table at him, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Oh, he'd started tapping his pencil again.

"Sorry!" he blurted, then sat dumbly, staring at a paper he couldn't even see anymore.

He heard his big brother blow out a short breath, then a longer one, followed by the bristling noise of him rubbing his beard.

"Are you stuck on something, Ani?" Obi-Wan’s voice was gentler. "Do you want help?"

Anakin shook his head wordlessly, now twisting the pencil between his fingers. He could feel Obi-Wan watching him, his gaze like a heat ray on Anakin’s head.

"What’s up, kid?" Obi-Wan sounded serious now. "Is something wrong? Do you want to talk about something?"

Anakin jerked his head in a nod, even as his fingers caught and bent, and the pencil snapped between them. The ends clattered to the table, and Anakin stared at them, horror-stricken.

Breaking things, he kept on breaking things, and it was always costing them, costing Obi-Wan who already did everything to keep food on the table, and pay all the bills, and he'd said just last week that the last of Dad and Mom's insurance money was gone, they were on their own now, and Anakin wasn't helping, wasn't– He just wanted to– Obi-Wan deserved–

He choked on the sob that tried to break out, and bolted from his chair.

"Wait, Ani-!" Obi-Wan called after him, but he kept going. Up the stairs, down the hall, into his room, where he ran to his bed and dove under the blankets.

Anakin pulled Mom's quilt over his head, buried his face in his pillow, and tried not to cry. He failed.

A soft knock on an open door, which he almost missed, except it was accompanied by Obi-Wan’s voice, a quiet, "Ani?"

Anakin didn't have words to reply, though a strangled noise escaped him.

Obi-Wan said nothing more, but the mattress sagged under someone's weight, and then the quilt lifted enough to let Obi-Wan squirm under it to lie next to him.

Obi-Wan smelled like onions from making supper, and Anakin cried harder. He kept his face buried in his pillow, but Obi-Wan just kissed the back of his neck, beard tickling Anakin’s skin, and settled down, cheek pressed to the side of his little brother's head.

Anakin wasn't totally sure why he was crying, he just knew that he loved his brother so much, and he wished Dad and Mom were still alive, but he was happy again somehow—he had realised that yesterday when they drove home from hockey practice, and he'd sung along with the Hunter Brothers on the radio. He was happy; even though that felt wrong somehow, he'd been told it wasn't.

And now he was crying.

When the tears stopped, he turned his head away from the pillow to take some deep breaths, and found Obi-Wan’s face right there, so close their breaths mingled in the same warm smell of spaghetti sauce. Obi-Wan grinned slightly in the darkness, bumped their noses together.

"Okay," he said softly, "do you want ice cream or hot chocolate?"

Anakin took a couple shuddery breaths, before sitting up and throwing off the quilt. Obi-Wan sat up too, swinging his feet back onto the floor.

"Um," Anakin croaked, rubbing his hands over his face to dry it. "I have something." He hopped off the bed, went to his dresser and opened the sock drawer. "At school today." He turned around, held out the plastic case. "I made this for you."

Obi-Wan cocked his head, reached for glasses that weren't there, and so took the gift, holding it close enough to read.

"You Are My Sunshine," he read aloud, from the permanent marker on the top of the CD. "Wait, you made this?" He looked up at Anakin with a sudden smile. "Is this your singing?"

Anakin nodded, biting his lip.

"Ani." Obi-Wan sounded so proud. "Your first record. Look at you, little brother."

"I made it for you," Anakin repeated, not knowing how else to say everything he was feeling.

"Well, then we should listen to it." Obi-Wan jumped up, reached to ruffle Anakin’s hair, then pulled Aankin into his side. "Homework break?"

"And ice cream?"

A grin in response. "Absolutely!"

Anakin got the chocolate ice cream and two spoons, while Obi-Wan put the CD in the player in the living room. They ended up on the couch together, Obi-Wan’s arm around him keeping Anakin’s nervous energy under control.

The audio started with voices, laughter, Dad saying, "Never, my love."

Mom giggling close to the microphone.

The background hum of a car ride.

Obi-Wan's younger voice: "Stop pinching me, Ani."

Anakin sounded so young, and very indignant. "I'm not!"

Against his shoulder, Anakin felt Obi-Wan take a deep breath, and exhale, sinking further back into the couch. He didn't have to look over to know the man's eyes were closed.

Anakin had listened to this so many times in the past two years, since he discovered it on Mom's old phone, trying to figure out what to do with it, he had every word memorized.

Little Anakin again: "Daad, 'm tired. How much longer?"

Dad's voice, so warm and strong it was like he was right there in the room with them: "Another hour. You should take a nap. That'll help the time pass."

Obi-Wan said something unintelligible.

Mom: "Let him be, Obi."

A short silence, before Mom started humming.

The humming gave way to Dad singing, as he picked up the tune.

"...You make me happy, when skies are grey..."

Then both Mom and Dad, singing in harmony: "... You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

A beat of silence, before Mrs. Unduli's piano came in. Followed by Anakin’s voice.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..."

Anakin had to stare very hard into the ice cream container, and focus on sucking his spoonful of ice cream, not daring to look at Obi-Wan. His cheeks felt hot. Man, it was so weird hearing his own voice like that! He was so glad his voice sounded good even though it was changing; at least it hadn't broken while he was recording.

"The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms..."

A lump swelled in Anakin’s throat, and Obi-Wan's arm tightened around him.

"...When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken, so I hung my head and cried."

He'd been so afraid of his voice cracking on those lines, but when he'd actually started singing for the recording yesterday, he'd forgotten about that.

Now came his guitar playing.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..."

But Anakin was really waiting for the end. When the piano died out, and the guitar went silent, and the sound shifted to something in a smaller space. He'd recorded this part in his room, months ago.

"You are my brother—will be forever..."

A warm drop of wetness landed on Anakin’s upper arm, followed by another, and he pressed closer, turning his face into Obi-Wan’s neck, ice cream forgotten.

"...You make me happy, when skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. You have been my sunshine today."

Now it was Anakin’s turn to wipe away his big brother's tears; four years of grieving and there were no pretenses left between them.

After a minute, Obi-Wan pressed a long lingering kiss to his forehead, before he gave Anakin a proper bear hug.

"Good grief, kid–"

"Ahh!" Anakin’s yelp broke the moment, thanks to the cold, wet ice cream container now squished against his stomach.

Obi-Wan let him go, laughing. "Okay," he said, drying his face on his sleeve. "Maybe go stick that in the freezer."

Anakin did so, wishing his face didn't feel so hot. When he walked back into the living room, Obi-Wan was on his feet, reaching for him.

Anakin went willingly, burying his face in his big brother's shoulder.

"I know you want to fix cars," Obi-Wan muttered in his ear, "but you should definitely record some songs on the side. You have such a good voice."

"You liked it?"

Obi-Wan laughed once, softly. "Oh, Ani. I love you so much. If I listen to that as many times as I want, I don't think either of us will get our homework done."

A smile crept across Anakin’s face, and when he pulled away, he couldn't stop grinning. "Well, can't have you failing teachers school."

"I bet you've listened to that so many times you're tired of it." Obi-Wan watched him, eyes shining with love and pride.

"Nah. Can't be."

"I'm putting that CD in the truck," Obi-Wan declared. "Do you have a digital copy I can keep on my phone?"

"Yeah."

"Please send that to me."

"Okay." Anakin stuck his hands in his pockets, not sure what else to do with them. "I'm gonna make hot chocolate."

"And then back to your homework, young man."

"Yes, Daaad."

Obi-Wan swatted him lightly in the head, but he was smiling. He was also the first to start singing under his breath, and Anakin couldn't help joining in.

"...You make me happy when skies are grey..."