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Fun Fact: Strubhar Genetic Laboratories is a reference to a fic that I'm still working on. The main character's name is Dr. Callum Strubhar.

Star Wars fandom fest gift

Gift for @grand-admiral-lawn. A fanfic i wrote for @starwarsfandomfests's Halloween exchange where Eli wants to tell Thrawn about his feelings, but that isn't so easy with Thrawn's very interesting costume.

Sorry its a tad bit rushed, I accidentally deleted the doc 3 weeks before it was due

“I’m still not sure I understand the appeal of this holiday,” Thrawn said, looking at the fake spiderwebs and pumpkins adorning the hallway. “Humans enjoy fearing for their lives?”

“Well, more or less. People like Halloween for different reasons. Some people like the costumes, others like the candy and alcohol, others like the movies, and, yes, some people like being scared. I think it’s the adrenaline or something,” Eli explained. “Personally, I don’t get it.” Thrawn raised an eyebrow. “Costumes?” “Yeah. It’s tradition to dress up as something scary, like a monster or a ghost, but.. Uh.. hmm.. Well…” Eli trailed off, trying to think of how to explain. “It’s sorta.. devolved, I guess, into just dressing up as anything. If you can make it into a costume, you can be it for Halloween.”

“Interesting,” Thrawn commented. “What are you planning to go as?”

“I don’t know, I’m not too good at coming up with costume ideas. Probably something typically spooky, like a skeleton.”

“I don’t see a problem with that. Following standard traditions can be fun.” He looked back at the decor. “I assume we are supposed to arrive at tonight's event in costume?”

“Yeah. I suppose we’ll have to think of something quick.”

“I have a few ideas on what people might find frightening.” He turned back to Eli and smiled. “I look forward to seeing you there.”

Eli simpered. He’d been working with Thrawn for years now, but even so, he still couldn’t help but feel honored when Thrawn smiled at him. “You too,” he said.

That night, Eli was loitering by the food table at the Chimaera’s big Halloween party dressed in a cheap glow-in-the-dark skeleton morph suit and makeup. The only reason he was sticking around after all the sushi was gone was to see Thrawn’s costume. Whatever it was, it must’ve been pretty elaborate, since he still hadn’t arrived.

He saw someone in a brown and white costume approaching him. He knew it was Faro by her face, but he couldn’t figure out exactly what she was supposed to be. The orange overhead light lit up a number of whiskers and two eye stalks, along with a large finned tail. She waved to him, revealing a huge crustacean claw. “Hey, Eli! I didn’t know you’d be here!”

Eli stared at the crab suit she was in, suddenly feeling a lot better about his own costume. “Oh. Hi, Faro.” He paused and put down his cup of fruit punch. “Uh.. interesting costume.”

“Yeah, it’s a megashell crab. I got it from that weird chain store. You know, the one that suddenly inhabits random abandoned buildings but disappears without a trace immediately after the season?”

“Uh, no, can’t say I ha-” Eli was cut off by Thrawn finally showing up, appearing behind Faro from the crowd. He was wearing white scrubs and a lab coat with a logo reading STRUBHAR GENETIC LABORATORIES on the front pocket. Slung across his shoulder was a black medical bag.

“Sorry I’m late, the delivery of one of the parts of the costume was delayed.” He looked between them. “So. Socialization.”

They talked for a while, discussing subjects like the weird chain store that suddenly inhabits abandoned buildings and disappears immediately after the season, horror movies, and other things relating to the holiday. At one point, Thrawn mentioned experiments happening on a nexu at a place called Strubhar Genetic Laboratories. Eli raised an eyebrow. “What kind of experiments?”

“Well, we’re mostly trying to increase the size of its brain to make it more intelligent,” Thrawn explained. “We’ve been using an altered form of Kaminoan cloning technology to clone the cells of the organ and immediately fuse them back into it.” He itched his chest through his shirt. “I’ve been getting this strange rash ever since the first experiment.” Eli’s eyes widened as Thrawn pulled down the neck of his shirt to show a large section of one of his pecs. He was suddenly glad that his cheap makeup was enough to cover his blush. When he looked back up, there was indeed a large reddish patch on Thrawn’s skin. It looked like he had applied red concealer makeup with the abrasive side of a sponge. “I should probably go to the restroom to check it out.” “Uh, yeah, that would probably be a good idea,” Eli said quickly. As soon as Thrawn left, Faro turned to him with an impish grin on her face. Eli glowered. “What’s that look all about?”

Faro giggled. “I saw that reaction! You like him, don’t you?”

“Shut the hell up.”

Faro laughed again and put her hand on Eli’s shoulder. “You should go tell him. I mean, it’s not like it would be a big surprise.” Eli was suddenly more concerned than ever. “What do you mean by that?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just decide what you want to say, drink until you have the nerve to go for it, and then drink more with him once the inevitable acceptance happens. Easy as pie.”

Eli pushed Faro away as he saw Thrawn’s white lab coat in the light approaching them. They both stared at him as it became visible that he had a piece of yellowish faux fur attached to his face. None of them said anything for a minute. Eventually, Faro brought up cryptids and they started talking again. Eli took Faro’s advice and grabbed a bottle of some kind of alcoholic beverage. Eli spent hours thinking about what he might say. He kept track of time by noting that Thrawn went to the restroom every hour to apply more faux fur. At one point, he put yellow contact lenses and prosthetic teeth in, and Eli had to pick up the pace. He wanted it to sound impressive, but at the same time, anything was better than nothing. A simple ‘Thrawn, I love you’ would be fine. But could he make it better? But what if he tried to do that and failed? Would that hurt his chances? He looked up at the man in question. He was asking Hammerly for raw meat. The transformation thing definitely had an end part, and Thrawn was getting closer and closer to it. Without thinking, Eli walked up to Thrawn and pulled him away from Hammerly. “Hey, uh, Sir, can I talk to you?” He glanced at the crew around them. “Alone?”

They walked over to one of the corners of the room. “Yes, Eli?”

“So, uh.. Well, I… Uh… Gods, uh.. Well, y’see-” Eli abruptly stopped speaking as Thrawn took the fake fangs out of his mouth and gently kissed him on the forehead. Eli stared blankly at the floor, for a second thankful again that the makeup hid his blush, but then he remembered Thrawn’s infrared thing. Gods dammit. Thrawn chuckled. “I know. Faro told me two weeks ago. And yes, I do too.”

Eli tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t. There just weren’t any words that he could’ve said to comment on this anymore. Thrawn looked up back at the party. “I suppose this counts as a first date.” All Eli could do was nod. “Here, I think you might like to see the last part of my costume.”

Eli followed Thrawn out of the room curiously. He led him to a large crate in the next room over. Eli stumbled back and almost screamed when he saw that at the back of the container were large metal bars with a live, adult nexu behind them. It had a ripped up lab coat thrown over its back. “Th- Thrawn! You- what in the- You can’t just throw a damn live nexu into the party!” The creature made a satisfied cooing noise as Thrawn patted it on the head. “This is Delilah. She’s a specially trained nexu that’s been used in quite a few holomovies. You know that I would never really hurt any of the crew.”

“Well, they’re still gonna be scared shitless! Once you tell them that it’s fine, they’ll all be pissed at you!” “Everybody on the ship has extreme trust in me. They also have the rational thinking to know that I did not turn into a nexu. They’ll know that they’d never be put in danger once the horror of seeing a nexu run around the room wears off.”

Eli sighed. “The only reason I’m not gonna try to stop you is because I know that my efforts will be in vain.”

Thrawn left the room and ran back in a few minutes later. “I told them I didn’t feel well and was going to get something.” He took a key out of his medical bag and unlocked the container. “Let's go.”

Eli watched Thrawn leave the room laughing to himself with Delilah in tow. A mass of half disgruntled, half horrified partygoers slipped from the doors and went their separate ways. He hadn’t seen exactly what happened. But he had heard it. The roars, the screams, the arguments, the groans. But in the end, Thrawn got what he’d wanted, and Eli found that comforting for some strange reason.

He was walking back to his quarters when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Thrawn, this time without Delilah. “Commander, I wanted to speak to you.”

“Yeah?”

“You told me back at the party that you had feelings for me.” He glanced at the ground. “I was.. wondering why that was.” Eli froze. Oh no. “Well, what do you mean by that?” he asked a bit nervously.

It’s just that there are many other humans on the ship to be infatuated with. And I do not doubt that you are, or at least were at one point. So why have you chosen me?”

Eli paused. “Well, there’s a few reasons, I guess. I mean, you’re a very attractive man, but to tell you the truth, I… guess I've always liked how similar we were.”

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” Eli took a nervous breath. “I like that you’re foreign. I never really fit in with anyone else because of my accent and skin, and it’s just so nice to have someone else like that.”

Thrawn reached out and touched the side of Eli’s face, holding his cheek. Eli’s face got so hot that he was sure that Thrawn could feel it through the makeup. “I suppose that’s an accurate description of how I feel, aswell.” Eli smiled.

Thrawn pulled his hand away, taking a good portion of the black grease makeup with it. “Oh, gods dammit, I thought that dried!” Eli said. “Uh, sorry about that, I guess.”

Thrawn laughed. “We should probably clean this up.” “Yeah, good idea.” Eli opened the door to his quarters and started to walk inside when he heard Thrawn follow him. He turned. They both stared at each other for a minute. A little silent plan came to them that they would be staying together tonight. After all, what’s better than a boyfriend to cuddle up to on Halloween?

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