Closed; The devil in the wires

[art_of_war]

WHO: Thrawn and Eli Vanto
WHERE: Greenhouse
WHAT: Eli has been brooding thinking and Thrawn has noticed.
WHEN: After Eli's conversation with Poe
WARNINGS: None anticipated


Thrawn was not suited to these sorts of tasks. Things like watering seedlings, weeding areas by hand, or simply washing the dishes that were reused for mealtimes. Not suited to it because he was often bored but not because he balked at handling such mundane chores. He could do and did whatever Eli asked of him without complaint.

But Eli had been quiet and withdrawn recently. And Thrawn internally agonized over whether it would be better to investigate anything that had bothered Eli or whether Thrawn needed to bide his peace and let Eli wrestle with his demons on his own. In the end, he temporized and after washing out mugs in a bucket of gray water (which consisted of water that had first been used to wash the dirt off vegetables) he used that as an excuse to speak with Eli.

He found Eli easily enough outside the actual greenhouse and walked over to sit down next to him. He held the bucket by the handle and set it down in front of them both.

"Did you wish to pour this out over the squash vines still?"

Comments

[art_of_war]

Apparently it was going to be a habit after all. Not that Thrawn would have anything to say about that. Eli's bed wasn't really meant for 2 people either so Thrawn and Eli would have had to be very close together. Again not that Thrawn was complaining.

Thrawn was at least courteous enough to take his boots off before laying out the best he could on top of the covers in Eli's bed. He had never had anything as warming as bed linens and would very likely not even realize they were there.

[thrawnsaide]

Eli slipped off his boots and tunic before he awkwardly climbed into bed trying to situate himself where he wasn't going to shove Thrawn off the bed or make him too uncomfortable. He wrapped his arms around Thrawn before placing his head against his chest. He did manage to have it so the blankets were around him and not over Thrawn since he knew the Chiss didn't really use the blankets.

[art_of_war]

For another moment Thrawn felt awkward but as Eli leaned against his chest that disappeared. It wasn't possible to do anything else. So very hesitantly, Thrawn did put an arm around Eli. The other arm was being used as a pillow for now.

[thrawnsaide]

He gave a small smile pleased to see Thrawn draping an arm around him. He hadn't been expecting that at all. Listening to Thrawn's heart beat and the protective arm around him, Eli felt safe for the first time in a good while. He visibly began to relax and drift into sleep.

[art_of_war]

Thrawn didn't sleep as much as a human but he hadn't mentioned that. So as Eli went to sleep Thrawn was still very much awake. Another time might have seemed odd to both of them to stare. But right now Thrawn did not hesitate to watch Eli sleep. And to wonder how Eli had managed to come to mean so much him.