For Eli, the hardest thing about dating Thrawn wasn't that he was his commander. It didn't relate to the stiff professionalism required on shift or the mutual need for secrecy. No, the worst thing about dating Thrawn was the long periods of relationship silence.

Coming into both their relationship and assignment on the Blood Crow, Eli had been excited. He'd thought ending his instruction at Royal Imperial by sleeping with a near-mythical warrior would be the final chapter before returning to his mundane life, but Thrawn had other plans for him. Eli's parents hadn't been happy, but Eli was coming around to the idea of sticking by Thrawn. Here, there existed potential perks unavailable to Eli as a supply officer.

"I don't share my bed lightly, Eli. Those I am intimate with are not to be discarded."

Which would be all fine and dandy if Thrawn had laid a finger on him after that. Eli tried to keep expectations modest. He shared Thrawn's desire to settle into a routine and make a good impression on their first Imperial assignment. Eli's problem existed in the hours after shift was over. Whether he was tinkering with old parts in the hangar or sifting through art holos, Thrawn's work did not end when his shift did. His treatment of Eli did not change either.

Nothing Eli said or did changed Thrawn's schedule. He nearly agreed to spar with Thrawn solely so he'd be touched again. Eli didn't know how to address the problem. Worse, he was growing impatient.

Were he and Thrawn really in a relationship? They'd had sex after classes ended at Royal Imperial. It'd been Eli's first time, and Thrawn had implied sex meant something to him. If it'd been a meaningless fling, surely he would have clarified that. Eli wanted to ask, but getting Thrawn to so much as look up from his datapad was hard enough. Assuming Eli ever got his attention, he was almost confident he'd choke.

Well… two could play an avoidance game. Eli stopped filling space across from Thrawn in the mess in favor of joining officers who would speak to him. Leaving Royal Imperial meant leaving the open hostility of his former classmates behind. Many soldiers on the Blood Crow still leered at Thrawn's alien-ness, but they were cautiously accepting of Eli. Captain Rossi was the only officer aboard from the Core; most others hailed from the Inner or Mid Rims. One man, Ensign Cobrik, had been born and raised on Tatooine. He'd found Eli's recount of Royal Imperial hilarious.

"That's insane. Their parents paid all that money for them to train close to the palace, and what did it get them? Other than a longer nose, I mean."

"It got them paying five times as much to drink beer and go to the club, but I think they could afford it anyway." Eli shook his head. "A few of them got cushy posts around the Colonies, but where's the fun in that?"

"Nah, man. Outer Rim where's all the excitement is! We got the syndicates, the smugglers, and the Senate's attention. The Empire's gonna get big in the Outer Rim. Anyone who can get Tatooine to stop pickpocketing itself will go down in galactic history." Cobrik flashed a toothy, sunburnt grin. Nothing like a good joke at your homeworld's expense. "Is that how Lysatra is too?"

Eli shook his head. "We're a pretty quiet planet. Most people there don't cause trouble. They joined the Empire for better trade access. That, and pirate protection."

"Protection from worlds like mine, you mean!" Eli tried to backpedal at that, but Cobrik just laughed. His muscled forearms rested behind his naturally bleached hair, showing off his biceps in a casual manner. "I'm kidding, it's fine. I'm Dan, by the way."

"Eli."

Eli and Dan hung out semi frequently after that. On the days when Thrawn was particularly oblivious to the world around him, Eli didn't see a point in sticking around after shift. It took Thrawn a week to comment on this development.

When he did, it was phrased as an observation. They were working in the hangar together when Thrawn spoke out of the blue. "You are more social on assignment than during instruction."

"I have more chances to be social," Eli corrected. "Not everyone on board is a Core World snob."

"They share some of the same attitudes."

Eli's stomach twinged at that, then he paused. Thrawn's inability to socialize with others on the ship was at least as much his own fault as it was the crew's. Even if Thrawn was right about their prejudice, he wasn't helping his case by acting aloof all the time. "Not all of them, and not as strongly. Plenty of worlds beyond the Core are multispecial. Most of them don't think they're the height of civilization, either."

Thrawn didn't respond immediately. "It is a marked improvement."

Eli let the conversation lapse after that. As his shift was ending, he prepared to learn a new sabacc variant with Dan. He left Thrawn with a few considerations. "Most of the people on this ship don't hate you. They're scared and confused, but not hateful."

Thrawn nodded absently, not ceasing his work. "As I said, a marked improvement."

Eli hesitated, halfway out the door. Was the conversation worth continuing? Was this Eli's chance to segway into a more serious talk?

Even if it was, Eli didn't trust himself not to mess it up. He'd spent all his teen years avoiding relationships. Leave it to him to let his first chance at romance crash into a heated gas giant. He'd sooner let it freeze on a dwarf planet.

So he left.

The missed opportunity stayed on his mind all the way to the common room. The Blood Crow was a small ship with few places for leisure, so the spaces it had were crowded to the elbows. Eli got shoved around more than once on his way to Dan's table. No one seemed to notice running into him. Dan, for his part, was tall and bulky enough to clear his own space. When he saw Eli, he expanded his reach to both their persons.

"There you are. Lieutenant hold you late?"

Eli shook his head. "I just had a lot on my mind walking over here. Ready to play?"

Dan beamed, shuffling a deck of card in his hands. "Yeah. So you mentioned you knew Bespin Hold 'Em, but this version of sabacc has you keep five cards in your hand, not two. What you do is…"

Eli chased the last stray thoughts out of his head as he focused on Dan's explanation of the game. When he felt confident he knew the rules, they opened the game between just the two of them. Dan saw several of his friends pass by during their match, but he didn't invite any of them to sit at their table.

After the third time Dan dismissed a potential player, Eli asked, "why don't you want other people to play with us?"

"Because you're still learning the ropes. I don't want you to lose your whole paycheck just yet," Dan teased. "Besides, I like playing with you."

Eli's cheeks burned. He had a terrible gambling face. "I do too."

Dan's face was a lot better. He was always outgoing and jovial, so it was hard to tell when he had good cards and when he was just enjoying himself. Even on the few hands he lost, he joked at disappointment more than expressing it. Eli felt his mood lift from Dan's energy alone. He stayed at Dan's table late into the night, losing track of time.

In fact, it was Dan who noticed the time. Not Eli. "Alright, I think I've beaten you enough. If we were playing for money, you'd be in debt."

Eli frowned. He hadn't thought he was that behind. "How would I get out of debt? Give you part of my paycheck?"

"Not necessarily. We'd think of something." Dan leaned back, chuckling to himself. Was it just Eli, or had that man winked at him?

Eli chose to believe it was a trick of the light. A moving shadow or something. "See you next shift."

He regretted going to bed so late. The next morning was brutal on Eli. Thrawn had a massive data sorting task he wanted Eli to undertake, and the droid who was supposed to be helping the process malfunctioned every fifteen minutes. Eli had not gotten enough sleep to deal with this crap.

Frustrated, he turned to Thrawn, who was up to his own devices in their supply room. "Why do you want to know this stuff?"

"Doonium is a material of great strategic importance to the Empire. It would be troublesome for Imperial expansion if there were to be a shortage," Thrawn explained mildly. He examined the circles under Eli's eyes before continuing to repair an old droid. "Perhaps the task would be simpler for a rested mind."

"You're one to talk about resting." Eli groaned. "As if you didn't stay up half the night watching docuholos at Royal Imperial."

"I receive an appropriate amount of rest for my species. Knowing yourself is not the same as knowing others, though both can prove informative." Thrawn's eyes softened when they met Eli's. "Do not allow distractions to degrade your fitness for duty."

Eli shifted on his feet, turning back to his work. "I'll be more careful."

"That is all I ask."

The rest of the shift crept by at an aching pace. Thrawn was an incredible worker, but he despised distractions and rarely spoke while engaged in a task. Eli rose up just before his shift was over, eager to clock out at exactly the right moment. "See you next shift, Lieutenant Thrawn."

Thrawn didn't speak up for his response. Eli chose to believe he'd said he was dismissed for the day. He eyed Thrawn's progress before stepping out the door. Thrawn was minutes away from finishing his reconstruction. Knowing him, that meant he'd start another one tonight. Eli had no intention of sticking around for that marathon.

He was on his way to formally end his shift when Dan caught him in the corridor. Eli stopped in his tracks, surprised to see his friend there. "I thought your shift was on the bridge today."

"It was. I'm done. I came down here to get you. Wanted to make sure the lieutenant didn't hold you to his idea of a work schedule."

Eli smiled ruefully at that. "Lieutenant Thrawn can get caught up in things."

"Lieutenant Thrawn can pull the stick out of his ass. He can stop sucking up your free time, too."

Eli started walking again to the clock out station. Dan fell in step beside him, waving to his numerous friends who had just ended their own shift. He got more than a few thumbs up on the walk over from people who thought they'd been discreet.

Eli had no idea what the support for Dan was meant to do. All he knew was that he was exhausted. "I wish we'd ended our game earlier last night. Today's shift was hard to handle."

"We don't have to do that again tonight. I have a better idea for what we can do." Dan stood in the way of where Eli needed to check out of work, forcing him to look up at him.

Eli furrowed his brow, confused. "What do you want to do?"

Dan scratched the back of his neck. It was the first time Eli had seen him without a smile on his face. His eyes had a distant cast to them, like he was thinking of something far away. "Last night, I had a feeling about something. I think you had the same one."

Eli took a step back. Waves of tiredness washed over his mind, keeping him from realizing what Dan meant to say. "Huh?"

Something flashed in Dan's grey eyes. He stepped forward, catching Eli by the arm and pulling him in close. Before Eli's brain caught up to the sequence of events, Dan's dry lips were pressing onto Eli's.

Oh.

Oh no.

Before Eli could even move, a cold voice cut through the air behind them. "Excuse me, Ensigns."

Eli pulled back instantly, whipping around to face Thrawn. "Lieutenant Thrawn."

"Ensign Vanto. Ensign Cobrik. I expected both of you to know better than to engage physically on shift."

"I'm not on shift, sir," Dan protested.

"Yet Vanto still is. The Empire pays its soldiers to work when they are assigned to. Not to court the attentions of any possible suitor." This time, Thrawn's gaze dragged Eli along the corridor. "Come with me, Ensign."

Eli gulped, hanging his head. He didn't catch Dan's eye as he followed Thrawn away. It took all his bravery to glance up at Thrawn's turned head.

Thrawn's stiff posture did nothing to ease the tremors of dread in Eli's stomach.

A/N's: My original conception of this fic was for Thraro, but I realized the actions/reactions of Thrawn's partner were more in character for Eli. Also, Eli is more unknowingly adorable, so I think this situation is more likely to happen to him.

I was going to do this in one chapter, but I've come to decide I rather like the twoshot format. I'll get the next half out soon though. Don't worry.