A/N: Again, scene from a longer fic. Reader is with Thrawn and Krennic is jealous, but, much like little boys on the playground who pull girls’ pigtails, Krennic has no idea what to do with his emotions.
Also, I feel like this ends sort of abruptly. I know what the next scene is, and I’ve written a chunk of it, but idk, I feel like it should be separate. If you have any thoughts one way or the other, lmk!
WARNINGS: toxic Krennic (is that a warning tho? or a siren song?), angsty Krennic, jealous Krennic, toxic Krennic, manipulative Krennic, lying Krennic, slutty thots Krennic, did i mention Krennic is low key toxic?
2.5k words under cut. (is this the longest scene i’ve posted so far??)
He had forgotten to put away the carved relief. Krennic kicked himself mentally. A single glance at one kriffing piece of artwork and Thrawn would think he knew everything there was to know about a person. In anticipation of this obnoxious habit, Krennic had put away his modest collection of art before the dinner party. All but one. Naturally Thrawn was drawn to it immediately like a…fucking blue moth to a flame. Krennic was too irritated even to think of a more insulting remark.
It wasn’t even valuable, not by Krennic’s definition anyway. He wasn’t even sure what planet it was from. It was just an ancient raised carving of a battle. Krennic had merely appreciated the detail in the weaponry.
And there you were next to him. The two of you were clearly discussing the relief. You were resplendent in a backless red gown. Your hair was in soft curls, gathered in front of one shoulder as not to obscure any sight of your bare skin. Krennic hoped the front of your dress plunged as deeply as the back. To his absolute fury and acute embarrassment he felt a tightness in the front of his pants. He struggled to get a mental grip on himself.
Thrawn leaned down slightly, saying something to you in a low voice Krennic couldn’t hear. The delicate bangles on your arm sparkled brilliantly as you reached up to gently touch his shoulder. You turned to him, laughing, a dazzling smile lighting your profile. Thrawn smiled. Krennic hadn’t even been aware Chiss were physically capable of smiling. You stood on tiptoe, tilting your face toward Thrawn’s. He bent toward you a bit more, giving you a brief but tender kiss. That does it, Krennic decided.
“Admiral,” Krennic said coming up on your left side. “Enjoying the art show?”
You both turned to Krennic. Thrawn might be oblivious, but you knew he was interrupting on purpose. His eyes briefly flicked up and down your body. The front of your dress did not disappoint. It plunged practically to your naval and the floral embroidery over the sheer fabric left very little to the imagination.
“Art?” Thrawn repeated in his velvet tone. He glanced around Krennic’s opulent apartment. “I would be very much surprised to see anything here that might be classified as art.”
You scoffed and quickly took a sip of your wine to try to cover.
Krennic clenched his left hand so tightly you could hear his knuckles crack. “It’s a pity you seemed to have missed your calling as an art critic, Admiral. Will you excuse us?” Without waiting for an answer he steered you away by your elbow.
“Enjoying yourself?” he asked bitterly.
“Yes,” you said genuinely. “I honestly would have never guessed it, but you’re an excellent host. I’m always impressed whenever you entertain.”
He was taken aback by the sincerity of your compliment. He had wanted to take out his temper on you. Though, upon any thought at all, Krennic realized that would backfire, driving you straight back into Thrawn’s arms.
“What did you need, Krennic?” you asked without any of your signature impatience or sarcasm.
How did you always manage to catch him off guard? He assumed you would be annoyed with him for taking you away from Thrawn. But for once you were keeping your tongue in check, and he had no idea how to respond. Could Thrawn possibly make you that happy?
“I have a critical update on Project Stardust,” he invented quickly.
“Ooh!” Your eyes grew wide. “But I don’t have my datapad or anything at the moment. How urgent is it? Shall we go to your study?”
“No, no, it can wait until afterwards. I just didn’t want you and Thrawn to uh—slip out before I had a chance to speak with you. Go, enjoy your evening. Everyone should be gone by midnight. We can talk then.”
“Oh,” You glanced back at Thrawn. Your earrings caught the light as you turned your head. They matched your bracelets. Krennic wondered if your jewelry was yet another gift from Thrawn.
“Unless your recreational plans take precedent,” he said sarcastically.
You let out a small sigh. “No, it’s just…The Chimera is deploying tomorrow. But alright. We’ll talk later.” You forced a smile back onto your face as you walked back to Thrawn.
Krennic watched for Thrawn’s reaction when you told him you wouldn’t be able to go home with him that evening.
Thrawn smiled again and shook his head as he replied to you. Perhaps, Krennic thought sarcastically, he was reassuring you he didn’t mind your sudden work obligations. You still looked concerned. He kissed your forehead. Thrawn briefly made eye contact with Krennic over your head as the two of you turned to join the rest of the guests. As usual, his face was inscrutable.
Krennic had succeeded in ruining Thrawn’s evening, possibly even putting a damper on his whole deployment, Krennic thought hopefully. Now, however, he was faced with the issue of fabricating some complication with Stardust. He pondered this in the back of his mind as he turned on his signature charm the rest of the evening.
By the time you and Thrawn were the last people left, he still hadn’t created a Stardust problem. Krennic busied himself at the bar pouring himself a glass of whiskey and took a sip. He didn’t feel like watching Thrawn tongue fuck you goodbye. He heard the door close. He looked up.
“Alright,” you said, striding toward him. You were smiling. It was happy, sincere. Krennic’s stomach lurched. Then he realized it wasn’t for him, it was lingering from Thrawn.
He finished the glass.
That dress. Always you and your dresses. Why did Thrawn allow you to parade your tits around like that? Krennic hoped you weren’t wearing anything underneath. Fuck. Maybe the whiskey wasn’t such a a good idea. He poured a second glass and downed it.
You raised your eyebrows. “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”
Krennic poured yet another two fingers and slid the glass along the counter to you. You hesitated, then picked it up. Gingerly you smelled the amber liquid and wrinkled your nose. You looked at Krennic. He had an amused expression on his face.
“Try it,” he instructed.
“Aren’t we supposed to be working?” you repeated.
“My project, my home, my rules,” Krennic replied lightly.
You had already had a few glasses of wine. But you raised the glass to your lips and took a sip. You coughed and choked. “That is absolutely awful!” you gasped. “It’s still burning!”
Krennic laughed. “I suppose it is an acquired taste.”
“If I hadn’t just watched you drink a glass yourself, I’d think you were trying to poison me!” you said, laughing too.
You slid the glass back across the counter.
Krennic gave you an appraising look. Without saying a word, he turned to the bar and selected a crystal champagne glass rimmed with gold. He bent down and extracted a bottle from the back of his wine cooler. He uncorked it expertly and filled the flute. This time he handed it directly to you.
The champagne was clear and seemed to emit a soft golden glow.
“It’s too pretty to drink,” you commented, holding the glass up to admire the bubbles dancing inside, glittering as they caught the light.
Krennic laughed. “It’s ten thousand credits a bottle, you better drink it.”
Your eyes grew huge. “Ten thousand…??”
Krennic extended his tumbler. “To the most expensive drink you’ve ever had?” You laughed again and gently touched your glass to his. “By far. Cheers.”
You took a sip. You looked at Krennic in delight. “This is the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted!”
“It’s strong,” he cautioned as you eagerly took another sip.
“Then you better hurry up and tell me the update with Stardust while I can still think clearly,” you said, a hint of your usual impatience back in your voice.
Shit.
“I’ll get my datapad,” he said and retreated to the study. He quickly copied a segment of data onto a new data card. Careful to isolate only the files he had extracted, Krennic typed in a kill code.
He sighed dramatically as he brought the datapad to the counter. “Erso messaged me earlier. There was some kind of fatal systems error at Eadu. Significant portions of the weapons calculation data were wiped.”
“Kriff! Krennic this is not an update, this is a karking disaster!”
“I know, I know. Fortunately, however, Erso was able to restore the majority from memory and his own personal files. But I think this particular equation, you had done a lot of work on.” He handed you the datapad.
You set down the champagne. “Yes, this looks familiar.” Krennic studied your face as you scrolled. “I remember doing significant work on this, but I don’t remember what final numbers yielded the proper results.” You looked at him with a pained expression. “I’m sure I can duplicate this, it will just take a while.”
Krennic almost felt bad but his guilt quickly evaporated.
You shook your hair behind you, extending your back in a graceful arch. You twisted your hair into a knot, up and out of the way. “Go get another datapad. I’ll work on the equation and you run the sims,” you instructed.
Krennic realized his mouth was slightly open and closed it. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Your hair…?” He would never be able to explain why, but watching you put your hair up so effortlessly was one of the most mesmerizing things he had ever witnessed.
You gave him a coy smile. “Secret,” you said mischievously. “Now go get me another datapad.”
He complied. He studied your profile as you kept reworking the equation. For about an hour the two of you worked. Every now and then, especially after an unsuccessful simulation, you continued to sip from your glass. You didn’t seem to notice Krennic had refilled it.
By now your hair was slowly coming undone. It hung in gentle tendrils around your face. Without thinking, he raised his hand, tucking a strand behind your ear. You looked at him in surprise. He took a step closer. Slowly he tilted you chin up kiss you. You didn’t pull away. He pressed his lips to yours. To his immeasurable elation, you were kissing him back, hard. Without breaking apart, his hands on your waist, he led you to one of the long, low couches in the sitting room. Your hands were wandering up his arms, on his chest, unbuttoning his pants. He sank onto the couch, pulling you with him so that he was between your thighs. He needed to be inside you so badly…
“Krennic!”
He was jerked back to reality.
“What?” he asked.
It was clear he hadn’t been paying attention to a word you had said. Genuine concern flickered across your face. “Are you alright? You’ve been acting very odd the entire evening.”
He didn’t know how to answer you. No, he wasn’t alright. He was never alright when he was with you. He had never met anyone so insolent and alluring. He never knew if he wanted to strangle you or kiss you. The only easy thing he could count on was the consistent contempt you had shown for him. Except tonight…
You were still waiting for his answer.
“Just thinking…We need to look into the error at Eadu. Erso said it was an internal systems error, but we shouldn’t rule out sabotage or an external hacking attempt.”
Your eyes widened at the thought. “Oh, that didn’t occur to me! Yes, it is imperative Galen investigate that.”
Suddenly you gasped. “I think I got it!” you exclaimed. You recited the specs for Krennic to input. He ran the simulation. It was successful.
You looked at him with a look of pure joy on your face. Then, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, like you had done it a thousand times before, you held his face in your hand and kissed him.
Krennic was absolutely stunned.
You were still smiling for a fraction of a second before you realized what had happened. It was clear you had shocked even yourself. For a moment you stood frozen, your mouth open in a perfect O.
“I’m sorry!” you exclaimed, your face rapidly growing pink. “I didn’t mean—I don’t know—The champagne—“ He had never seen you look so much as uncomfortable, let alone embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” you repeated.
Hastily, you turned to leave. Krennic grabbed your hand. His dwarfed yours by comparison. He traced a soft circle on the back of your hand with his thumb. You raised your gaze to meet his. He could see your rapid pulse in your neck.
He took a step closer. “Don’t be.” His husky voice held a low, rich quality. His eyes searched your face, flickering to your lips.
You stood rooted to the spot. Krennic caught the scent of your perfume. It was intoxicating. For a long moment the two of you just stood there, waiting, even hoping, for the other to do something.
Suddenly you jumped slightly. “Thrawn—“ you started abruptly.
“Of course.” Krennic released your hand and attempted to assume a casual air. “I’ll call a Death Trooper to escort you home. Or wherever,” he added through gritted teeth. “Good night, Senator.”
“Good night, Krennic.”
Once you had closed the door, it took all of what little self-restraint Krennic possessed not to hurl his whiskey across the room. He could have had you. There was no reason for Thrawn to expect you home tonight. You were torn. You were drunk. You were standing there waiting for him to do something. You would have given yourself to him, he was sure of it, and yet he let you walk out the door.
What the fuck was wrong with him? Forgetting he was holding the tumbler, he slammed his fist on the counter. It shattered, slicing deeply into his palm. A stream of expletives exploded from his mouth. He tied a napkin around his hand to try to stem the flow of blood.
The throbbing pain sobered him a little. Maybe it was better this way. With more time and Thrawn gone, he could make it seem like it was your idea. You had kissed him after all. Well, it was hardly a proper kiss, but still, it had been you. He was still fuming but some of his anger was slipping away. Yes, this was definitely better. He honestly didn’t know what Thrawn would do if Thrawn thought he took advantage of you when you were drunk. He had the sudden mental image of the Chimera descending on his loft apartment, weapons blazing.
While he was brooding, Krennic suddenly became aware you had left your comm on the counter. A deliciously wicked thought crossed his mind. Making a mental note of exactly where it had been left, he picked it up and extracted the data card from inside.
Turning it over in his fingers he considered. Surely you had sent Thrawn a few…discreet messages to tide him over while he was away. He had behaved himself tonight. He deserved something, if he wasn’t impaling you on his cock at this precise moment.
Perhaps this night wouldn’t be quite a total loss after all, he thought.
The Dress
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