Thrawn led Eli to their shared quarters, his pace unrelenting. He normally adjusted his speed to Eli's when they walked together. This time, Eli half-ran to keep up with him. They passed several crewmembers on their way back, each of whom watched the procession with varying degrees of alarm. Eli hoped the rest of the Blood Crow didn't know what was going on here.

The only time Thrawn looked at Eli for their entire journey was when he keyed the door to their quarters open. He stood outside the door and beckoned for Eli to enter first. Both his face and his hand gesture were set in stone. Never had Eli been so nervous to walk into his own room.

He stopped a meter from the doorway, then turned around to watch Thrawn enter behind him. The door slid shut with a threatening hiss. Eli waited in silence for Thrawn to say something, his eyes darting around the room towards nothing in particular.

When Thrawn did speak, he used his menacing calm voice. The one that suggested everything was fine yet Eli had heard too often to not know was fake. "You require attention?"

What kind of a question was that? Of course Eli wanted Thrawn's attention! Eli wasn't sure what would come of this answer, so it was with a degree of hesitation he said, "yes."

For the second time that evening, Eli was grabbed on the arm by a much taller man. This time, he landed against a wall and was crushed underneath a weight twice his own. Thrawn caught Eli on the lips and pried his mouth open with a nifty assault of bites and licks. Eli squirmed under the invasion, pushing back against Thrawn's hold.

It took three tries to pull his mouth away from Thrawn's long enough to speak. "St...n-no!"

There was a delay between Eli's protest and Thrawn's release of him. At first, Eli thought Thrawn was ignoring his pleas. When he did let Eli go, his posture returned to its original stiffness, red eyes averting Eli's brown ones. "You requested attention."

"Not like this." Eli stepped away from the wall, eager to avoid a second pindown. The room was filled with the sound of Eli's panting.

"You did not encourage Ensign Cobrik's attention to address an affection shortage?" Thrawn asked after much hesitation. "Describe your motives, then. Is this your rejection method?"

"Reje- no! I'm not rejecting you. How is it me rejecting you when-" Eli's hackles rose until he saw the look in Thrawn's eyes. The dim, downturned look in Thrawn's eyes that no longer hid pain below the surface. It was the most vulnerable Thrawn had ever looked around him.

He softened his approach. "Thrawn… Cobrik kissed me. I froze because I wasn't expecting it. I'm not 'courting his attention.' I didn't know he saw me like that until five minutes ago."

Thrawn blinked. "Since we have arrived on the Blood Crow… you have said nothing to me."

"You've said nothing to me!" Eli repeated the words back at him. "Ever since we've left Coruscant, you've been working nonstop. You don't talk to me like a person on or off shift. How am I supposed to take that?"

"As a chance to take the initiative," Thrawn answered like it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "It was I who persuaded you to be intimate on Coruscant. I noted your displeasure when we were assigned together on this vessel. I… my intention is not to pressure you into closeness. I feared your interest had faded now that our night together had passed. While I was waiting for you to suggest otherwise, I watched you kiss a man you had been basking in the company of for over a week. How am I meant to perceive that?"

Well... when he laid it out that way! It made Eli look like a jerk. "I didn't know what to think of the assignment here because I'd planned to be a supply officer for years. I… won't say my reaction had nothing to do with you, but, well…" Yep, this was hard. This was exactly what Eli had feared would happen when he tried to open up to Thrawn. "I agreed to come aboard the Blood Crow because… I liked what I saw on Coruscant. I want to be around you, Thrawn, but I don't just want to fill space in the seat across from yours. I didn't know you were waiting for me. I thought you were pushing me away."

Thrawn shook his head. "I will not discard you, Eli. It is… more appropriate for me to respect your choices than decree my own in this matter." Thrawn hid his hands behind his back. "If a relationship with Ensign Cobrik is what you desire, it will not be my place to interfere. Perhaps he would be a simpler path for you."

"Since when have I ever taken the easy path around you?" Eli asked, not expecting an answer. "I don't see Ensign Cobrik that way. How can I prove that to you?"

"Reject him. Now."

"Sure," Eli agreed, then hesitated. "How do you want me to do that? Do you want to witness it?"

"I would like to."

"It might look a bit odd if you're in the room while I do it. The last thing he saw was you dragging me away."

Thrawn glanced down to the comm in Eli's pocket. "He doesn't have to see me. If you reject him through comm, there is less chance he will touch you again."

He bristled at the word "touch." Seeing Eli with Dan had gotten to him. Eli wouldn't have guessed it mattered so much. He felt warmth surge in his abdomen thinking about it.

"Okay, I'll comm him now." Eli dialed Dan while keeping his eyes on Thrawn. Thrawn watched him back with restrained expectation in his eyes.

Dan picked up almost immediately. "Hey, Eli. You okay?"

"Hi, Dan. I'm fine."

"What took so long? Did Lieutenant Thrawn have that strong a feeling about PDA?"

"That's not it." Eli bit his lip, thinking about how he would phrase his next words. "Dan… I don't want to see you tonight. I'm still tired from my shift and from last night. I think I'm just going to formally end my shift, get food, and go to sleep."

"Oh… okay." Dan's disappointment was palpable. "We can hang out another time."

Thrawn's eyes bored into Eli's. Not good enough, they said.

I'm getting there, Eli mouthed back to Thrawn. He sighed, trying and failing to put the right words together. He wasn't sure it would've been easier to reject Dan in person, but Thrawn watching him call definitely complicated the matter.

"Also, Dan… about today. I-"

"Sorry, that was a bit public. I should have waited for a time when we were alone."

"That's not the problem here. Well, it is, but-" Eli groaned. "I don't… see you like that, Dan. I thought we were just friends."

Silence on the line. For a moment, Eli thought Dan had hung up. "You are gay, right?"

"I am. I'm just not looking to start a new relationship right now."

"You don't have to keep your lieutenant's work schedule, you know. You're allowed to live while deployed."

"I know," Eli reassured him, keeping the edge of impatience from creeping into his voice. "I want to live that life while having friends. Not more than that. I'm not changing my mind on this."

Dan scoffed. "What did that lieutenant tell you?"

"Nothing he said to me changed how I feel here, Dan. This is all me." Well, except the idea to comm Dan instead of speaking face to face. That was all Thrawn. Eli turned his head to avoid thinking about it. "I would have said the same thing to you in the hallway if Lieutenant Thrawn hadn't interrupted us."

"Why did you let me kiss you then?!"

"Because I didn't realize what you were planning to do." Eli was running out of patience. He leaned against the wall for support. "I froze when you kissed me out of shock. I was not returning it at all."

"...I thought you were just a bad kisser."

Thrawn raised an eyebrow at that comment. Eli glared.

Maybe Eli was a bad kisser, but so was Dan, then. His lips had been cracked as a canyon. While Eli only had two datapoints to work with, he knew who to consider the superior kisser of the group.

"Stars, Eli. I… fine. If that's how you see it." Dan sighed, speaking almost out of the comm's range to either himself or another person. "I'm an idiot."

Eli's gut twisted. He did like Dan, in a platonic way. It may take a while for them to be friends again, but Eli knew he wanted to work back up to that. He just didn't know if Dan would be open to the idea after tonight.

He shouldn't push it now. "Goodbye, Dan. I'll see you some other time."

"Whatever." Dan hung up the comm.

Eli put his own away. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"That is precisely what I wanted from you, Eli." Thrawn stood before the bed, eyeing Eli in an increasingly suggestive manner. "I… have no pressing matters to attend to tonight."

Eli shook his head. "I wasn't lying about being tired, you know."

"I understand. I will not prevent you from ending your shift any longer. We must both acquire food for ourselves, and no one need see us leave or arrive anywhere simultaneously. I shall depart first. Whatever company you wish to receive tonight, I shall give." Thrawn left the room without waiting for a response.

Eli smiled despite himself. He sat down on his own bed, mulling it over for a few minutes.

In a way, he kind of owed it to Dan. How else would he have worked up the courage to have that conversation with Thrawn? It's not something that would have happened on its own.

But now that that discussion had been completed, Eli had a mess hall to attend. Somewhere he might sit alone this time.

That was alright, he supposed. Eli certainly wouldn't be alone after that.

A/N's: So this fic definitely could have been a oneshot. I just didn't write or post it as one. Oh well. You still got both parts pretty quickly. Hope everyone enjoyed!