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Navy does not feel guilty. Not in the slightest. But he does feel rage, especially when he comes out of the kitchen to see your ex at the door.
His hands clench around the joke mug you'd bought him for his 'birthday' two weeks ago. It's his favorite thing in the entire kitchen. As a gift from you, he treasures it. He anchors himself to reality with the hand he has wrapped around the warm ceramic. He hadn't thought much of the doorbell ringing. It could have easily been a delivery.
Navy pauses, watching your body language. It's obvious how uncomfortable you are. He steps up close enough to brush your shoulder with his. Your eyes snap to his, face tight like you'd eaten something sour. He juggles his mug to his other hand and wraps an arm around you. "Everything okay, Dear?" The instant relief he feels bleeding off of you strokes the prideful monster inside.
"Yep. Red was just about to leave," you say. The sassy tone makes him want to kiss you breathless. Navy looks at Red for the first time in months. The spineless worm had fled without hardly a word, leaving you hanging. Navy picked up the pieces. It's not like he hadn't seen it coming. And if he told you that Red didn't deserve you, well, it wasn't a lie, now was it? If he hadn't already helped you soothe over the hurts, he'd have shut the door in Red's face.
The shame in Red's face isn't worth it. Navy doesn't want him anywhere near you, but he settles for the way you press into his side for warmth.
"I don't have to understand your reasoning. Hell, I still don't but visit your brother before he puts another hole in the drywall. Figure your shit out before you start seeing anyone else." The firmness in your voice makes Navy's soul constrict in his chest. He remembers the last time you'd spoken in that tone. It's a good thing he wears turtlenecks so often.
Red looks like he wants to argue but bites it back. Navy watches Red with a calculating eye, all too used to picking apart the other skeletons bullshit without a manual. Reading body language is a tongue he's fluent in. Navy knows that Red is on the brink of arguing. He tugs you gently by the sleeve, guiding you into the living room to chat in hushed tones. He can see Red marveling at the redecorated inside of your house.
"Dear, are you alright?" He asks. There's a frustrated pinch to your expression.
"I- no." You sigh, heavy and long. "This is the last thing I expected. Or wanted. I've said my piece to him already. Whatever he wants from me, other than closure can fuck itself right into hell." Navy doesn't laugh like he wants to. Oh, his date-mate is so charming.
"Do you want me to escort him home?"
Your eyes brighten and then dull right after. "Is.. that okay? Not that I don't trust you-!"
Ah, you're still getting used to wanting things, and being allowed to want things. Asking for them? Not always easy for you. It makes Navy's soul swell at your concern for his perception of you. As if you hadn't heard him spill his guts about his lovesick underground and then still slept in the same bed as him. He'd cried silently as you rested with your arms around him. It's his happiest memory, short of the first date you'd had together. Or when-
Not the time.
"It's fine," Navy smiles warmly and runs his hands across your shoulders and down your arms. His hands link with yours. "I'll take him straight to Edge. He's off today. I saw him getting his mail earlier." You nod, and your expression relaxes. There you go. Navy presses a gentle kiss to your head, embarrassing you instantly and filling him with pride when he sees Red's eyelights rush to look anywhere else. Red had never so much as held your hand in front of other people. Navy sends you off to finish your latest project with a smile on his face. Ah, he'll have to reheat his mug later if bugs don't attack it on the table.
___
Navy closes the door with finality. He spins around with a deceptively pleasant expression. "Follow me, please. Edge will want to see you."
Red doesn't budge, slumping into a jacket that reeks of mustard and pot. "What's yer deal? I don' need a babysitter."
"Clearly," Navy states in a clipped tone, "but the sooner I walk you to Edge, the sooner I can return home."
Red snorts. "You can cool it, hotshot, 'm not gonna hang around or do anythin' to yer domesticity." He bites the sentence out like it'd pissed in his cereal. For all Navy knows, it had.
"I'm not worried." And he isn't. Navy starts walking, and Red follows because he's itching for a fight. It's how he gets his self-sabotaging jollies.
"No, ya don' really fear me, do ya? Yer worried about Classic. That he'll take 'em away right from under yer nerdy ass."
Wow. Projecting much? Half the time, Navy didn't know if Red wanted to punch, fuck, or steal Classic's bones for a cosplay.
Navy laughs, bitter and cold. "Bold assumption. Why would I be worried when I have everything I want? Well," Navy grins, "almost everything, but I'm confident my... proposal...will work. They adore me, y'know?"
Navy leans down, his eyelights beaming like floodlights over his half-moon glasses. "I treat them like the treasure they are."
Red says nothing. He knows all too well about his guilt. That's why he'd ran and subsequently come back. Red knows it's too late. You look at Navy like you used to look at him before he'd fucked everything up. So Red kicks rocks. Maybe his brother hasn't found his liquor stash. Coming over was stupid. Red's life is full of those; mistakes.
Thank fuck Edge lives close. Navy doesn't go up the driveway, stopping at the mailbox. Red's already at his door. The spare key he'd kept up with somehow still fits the lock. Red prepares himself for the lecture of a lifetime.
Navy's voice calling out through the snow stops Red in his tracks. He turns.
"Oh, and Red? Don't play with their heart again." The threat is clear. Red may be a dumbass, but he didn't survive his underground being a clueless fuck. He goes inside.
___
Navy goes home, pleased as punch as he reheats his mug and settles onto the couch. You greet him warmly and let him look at your project. The comfy way you sprawl out across the floor reminds him of the black box he's been keeping in his inventory. Soon, he'll ask you to make him the happiest monster alive. As if he could be anything but when he's near you.