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“Congratulations son.” Eli‘s father said, shaking Eli’s hand much too tight.
“Thanks Dad.” Eli said weakly.
His fathers fathers brow and the way his mothers lips were pursed told Eli of their concerned and uncomfortable state.
It wasn’t very difficult to figure out why. The lights and bustling activity from the Coruscant skyline and the way their voices lowered anyone came by, it all pointed to the fact that a Wild Space yokel, and especially one like Eli, should never have ended up at the Royal Imperial Academy.
And of course there was Thrawn.
”Are you sure he’s okay?” His mother asked as they walked along one of the academies garden paths, ”Because even if I don’t approve of all of those things you do, I still don’t want him to hurt you, and if the stories we heard are true-“
“That’s not-“ Eli interrupted her. “Argh, we’re not seeing each other or anything.” Eli’s father flinched and averted his eyes. He'd probably told her not to bring it up.
“Then what exactly is your relationship to him?” His mother pressed.
Eli groaned. “We’re just friends. Not even that. I’m his translator, that’s all, I promise. And anyway those stories aren't true. At least, not the ones you’re thinking about.”
“How do you know which ones I’m thinking about?”
"The ones about cunning and cruel vindictiveness," Eli said. "If they were, a lot of the cadets you're looking at would never have survived long enough to graduate.”
He winced as the last words left his mouth. Probably not the best way he could have put that. "He's great," He assured them.
"Really. Very smart."
"So that part of the stories are true?" his father pried, curiosity outweighing his caution.
“Yes,” Eli said. "Let's not talk about him, okay?”
His mother pursed her lips and Eli mentally cursed himself.
“Fine,” his father said. "Let's talk about you. What happens now that you're off your career track?"
"Who says I'm off it?" Eli countered. "Up until I came here, that was the bulk of my training. As far as I know, that's still where I am."
"Well, I hope so,” his father said. "I just…you never know about Core World nonsense."
Eli suppressed a sigh. After all he'd put up with at Royal Imperial.
"And hanging around that Chiss might have affected things, too,” his mother said, the words sounding sour in her mouth.
“It wasn’t my choice, Mom.” he explained for what had to be the millionth time that afternoon. She was always going to think he had chosen to be with Thrawn, unfortunately in more ways than one. “I’m just doing my duty.”
“Well, um, hopefully that will end soon.” His father said. “When do you get your assignment?”
“Later today.” Eli replied. “Hopefully this was all worth it.”
“It will be.” His father said, looking over Eli’s shoulder. “Well we should um get going.”
“You don’t have to go now.” Eli turned to see what exactly had his father raring to go all of the sudden, and the casual demeanor he had adopted for this conversation dropped into a frown.
Thrawn was briskly walking towards the trio of Vantos.
”We really have to go,” his father said, fumbling in his tunic. “We have to…damn”
”Good afternoon.” A smooth voice said from Eli’s side. Thrawn had joined them. “You are Ensign Vanto’s parents, of course. Welcome to Coruscant.”
“Thank you.” His father avoided both Thrawn and Eli’s gaze. “And you are…uh.”
“I am Lieutenant Thrawn.” Thrawn’s cool composure was ever present, somehow making the conversation more tense. “Your son has done quite well, you should be proud of him.”
“We are.” His mother cut in, though Eli knew the words were empty, or at least half full. His parents, mother in particular, hadn’t truly been proud of him ever since… well ever since that incident.
“And you really are a Chiss?” Eli’s mother asked.
“I am.” Thrawn confirmed. “Ensign Vanto has spoken of some of your legends concerning my people. Be aware that not all of them are true.”
“But some of them are?" Eli's father asked gingerly. "May I ask which ones?"
"Dad!" Eli hid his warming face in his hands.
"Only the most flattering ones, of course,” Thrawn said. Out of the corner of his eye, Eli could see a small smile brush Thrawn’s lips. "Still, even when false, legends can be most informative.”
"I thought you said they weren't all true." Eli’s mother said, nerves sifting through her voice.
"I did not refer to the legends themselves," the light glinted off of Thrawn’s eyes, making him seem much more menacing than he actually was. ”But what is remembered says a great deal about those doing the remembering.”
An awkward silence washed over them. Eli’s father rocked on his heels before breaking the quiet. “I see. Well, we’d best be going now.”
"What was the problem?" Eli asked.
"The problem?"
"You said damn. That usually implies a problem."
“Oh,” his father said. "No, not really. I'd just forgotten we can't use our beckon call here, that's all. We'll have to get an airbus to our landing platform.”
"Which they charge an arm and a leg for," his mother added. "But we'll be fine. We need to get back home anyway."
His father nodded and started to walk towards the airbus station.
“Well, goodbye Eli.” His mother said, wrapping her arms around him in a hug, which was the last thing Eli expected her to do.
After recovering from the initial bout of surprise, Eli was about to reciprocate the hug when-
“If I ever so much as a rumor,” she whispered harshly in his ear. Eli’s stomach sunk. “About you and a man, especially one like that chiss, you best not show your face at home again. Am I clear?”
“I- uh- yes, yes ma’am.” Eli whispered back, stiff with shock. The hug suddenly felt more like a chokehold.
“Good.” She said as she pulled away and addressed Thrawn. “Lieutenant.” She said, nodding in his direction and avoiding eye contact.
“Ms. Vanto.” Thrawn returned the nod. “Safe travels.” His voice was icy, but Ms. Vanto was already too far away to hear, walking quickly to catch up with her husband.
“Are you alright, Ensign?” Thrawn said, placing a hand on Eli’s shoulder.
Eli quickly moved away, voice shaky as he responded. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. C‘mon.” He turned toward the direction of the barracks. “We should um, we should head back.”
Thrawn followed him. “You seem to regard your parents as enemies more than friends.”
“It’s kind of private, Thrawn.” Eli said, his voice rising. He picked up his walking pace.
“I apologize. I thought you might want someone to talk to about it.”
Eli whipped around on his heel. “Look Thrawn.” He said, maybe a bit too harshly. Although he didn’t care much. Tensions were high, his patience was thin after meeting with his parents, and now here was Thrawn, inquiring about personal matters he had no right too, and after inserting himself forcibly into Eli’s life. “It’s a touchy subject, and you can’t go around asking about people's personal matters you shouldn’t know-“
He broke off as he saw the flicker of guilt in Thrawn’s eyes. The icy tone he had given his mother suddenly made a lot more sense. “You heard what she said, didn’t you?”
“Chiss ears have a slightly larger range than humans, and she was speaking quite loudly, yes.” Thrawn said with a nod.
Eli groaned, plopping himself on a nearby bench and putting his head in his hands.
The wood shifted as Thrawn sat next to him. They sat there quietly as Eli tried to piece his words together.
He took a deep breath. “You were right. My parents and I, we aren’t exactly on the best of terms. A few months before I left for the academy, there was this guy, Hayden. He was smart, handsome, and had an amazing sense of humor.” Eli smiled sadly, looking at nothing but a crack in the pavement.
“I’d had relationships in the past, but this one was different. He was the first boy- the first person- I ever said ’I love you’ to.” Eli frowned, changing his object of focus towards the Coruscant skyline. “We kept it under wraps, but somehow my parents found out he wasn’t just a friend like I’d told them, and ordered me to break it off. I had to. Must have been the worst day of my life.
“My parents told his parents, and next thing you know he’s on a shuttle to a school off-world. Now I’m here and I have no idea where he is.
“My mom and dad have never been what you’d call supportive, but this is the first time they’ve ever made actual threats and-“ Eli winced. “Sorry, didn’t mean to lay all that on you.”
“It’s alright.” Thrawn had also been observing the bustling activity above them, but now turned to face Eli. “Your parents thought the same situation would happen with me, and we’re trying to avoid it.” He said quietly, eyes searching Eli’s face.
Eli’s face warmed under Thrawn’s penetrating stare. “Yeah.” He said breathlessly. “I suppose so.”
If Eli had even known he’d wanted to kiss Thrawn at that moment, he probably would have.
Instead, he shook his head and quickly stood up. “I’m not worried about it, but anyway we should um, we should go see our assignments. They should be available any time now.”
Thrawn nodded, standing and brushing off his tunic. “Eli?” He asked not two seconds later.
Eli turned to face him. “What’s u-woah!” He had barely gotten the words out before Thrawn wrapped his arms around Eli in…
In a hug.
Huh.
“Is this…” Thrawn hesitated, a rare thing. “Is this alright?”
Eli’s face was insanely warm, his heart was thumping faster than he could count, but the dread that had pooled in his stomach when his mother had whispered to him suddenly disappeared. The hug was sincere and inviting and real. “Yeah, it’s alright.” He said softly as he wrapped his arms around the chiss.
It couldn’t have been more than a minute, but it felt like an eternity before Eli registered what exactly was happening. He and Thrawn were hugging. Something that took very close contact. They were very much touching each other. And it was definitely making Eli feel things. And his mom had just told him not to like a guy, because if he did, he wasn’t allowed back home.
And of all the people he had to fall in love with at this very moment, it had to be Thrawn.
Kriff.
Eli pulled away as four freshly minted ensigns passing by let out a series of “ooooohs!” One yelled above them all “Get a room!”
Eli rocked on his heels and pretended not to notice, while Thrawn shot a glare at the group, scaring them off.
“Um, Thrawn?” Thrawn turned at the mention of his name. “Thank you.” Eli said, smiling. “I really needed that.”
Thrawn’s face softened into a small smile. “You’re welcome.” He said.
Eli’s smile broke into a full on grin as he cleared his throat. “Well, we should probably take a look at our assignments now.”
Thrawn gestured to the path. “After you.“ he said. “Your father spoke of a beckon call, what is that?”