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They had all gathered on a far-away table amidst the party. Chaf family members mostly, but among them Syndics Thalias and Thrass. Vigorously, one of the Chiss Aristocra slammed his glass against the table.
“Two thousand tau’ni that Thrawn will propose during the celebrations!”
The Chaf side cheered. It unnerved Thalias, who shot a look at Thrass. A trickle of sweat slid down her forehead.
“Three thousand to say he won’t,” Thrass said, slamming his own glass in return. Some of the Chaf gasped, one left the table, yet the Aristocra who had originally started the bet calmly took a sip from his drink.
“Four thousan-”
“Five thousand,” Thalias interrupted. Seeing Thrass had calmed her, yet the man now slightly regretted giving her the confidence. It must have shown on his face as a few of the people on the table giggled.
“We’re doing it then,” the Aristocra said, putting on his challenging tone.
“We so are,” Thalias replied. Thrass poked at her arm to get her attention.
“Are we so?”
“We so are,” Thalias repeated.
“So we are…” Thrass sighed.
On the other end of the room, a neatly dressed-up Thrawn approached an equally neatly dressed-up Eli, extending a hand to him. “Would you care for a dance with me, Eli?”
“I believe it’s Ivant now,” Eli said, smiling widely, as he took Thrawn’s hand and let himself be led to the dancing room.
The Chaf Syndic who had bet five thousand tau’ni snuck behind to the instrumental and after a bit of whispering between him and the director, a new, far more romantic melody started playing.
Eli’s hands crossed behind Thrawn’s neck. He rested his head on the man’s arm, and whispered softly into his ear.
“I wish we could stay like this forever.”
“That makes two of us,” Thrawn whispered back. He relaxed more into his partner as the song dragged on, until it felt like as much of a prolonged hug as it did a dance. When he looked behind Eli’s back though, Thalias was glaring daggers at him. Thrawn gulped.
Eli changed the positions of his head a bit, so that his face was fully hidden in Thrawn’s chest now, “You noticed her too?”
“Yeah…”
“They’ve all been staring at us the entire night,” Eli said, making a face in distaste. “Thalias, your brother.” Thrawn tried to find Thrass’s face in the crowd. He was at the back end, face as white as a sheet, nervously looking up at them.
The tune of the song went faster, forcing them to drop the conversation. As the song drew to an end, Thrawn tightened his grip around Eli’s waist for a bit. “I’ve got a theory to prove. Pretend you’ve dropped something and I’ll pick it up.” Eli giggled and did just that with a ring he had on him.
As Thrawn bent down on one leg, a few of the Chaf family members quacked. Eli arched an eyebrow, looking at their direction. Thrawn picked the ring up and placed it carefully on Eli’s finger. The human smiled and wrapped his arms around his partner once again.
In the background, he could swear he heard Thrass and Thalias screaming “Hallelujah!”.
“Ivant,” Thrawn whispered into the human’s ear as the next song came on, “they know we married back in the Empire, don’t they?”
“Shhh…”