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Right wasn't jealous.
Not jealous at all. He was just concerned about how close Reginald was with the new recruit.
How the new recruit seemed to make Reginald laugh, or how the recruit would look at Reginald with a look as Right would describe as awestruck and how Reginald was even...enjoying his company seemingly.
Nope, nuh uh, he thought as he walked away to the cockpit. He was not jealous. He was protective because he had to be, even though both him and Reginald and the rest of the Tophats signed off on the new recruits he always was suspicious of new members. He remembered how Reginald laughed at him, this cute light laugh.
"You're suspicious of everyone! Even me when we first met!"
"Believe it or not Reg, you were quite shady on how you were quiet all the time."
He laughed, that laughed making Right feel lighter.
"I was nervous..especially around you."
SNAP OUT OF IT! His mind yelled as he almost bumped into the door.
DANG IT RIGHT. He opened the door with the swipe of his keycard and entered the cockpit where the Airship was being auto piloted.
At this point, Right thought. He should ask Reginald out but he's technically his boss..wouldn't that be in appropriate?
Then again it is not looked down upon in the clan to date, actually it was normalized in the clan to have romantic partners..especially right hand people and their bosses as it was natural for them to be close, so close they form a connection..Right just wondered if Reginald wanted that.
He shook his head, not the time to think about that.
He needed to focus.
...Some time passed.
It was no longer day as it was now sunsetting, Right did all his tasks, checking up on the airship, set the new destination for the airship and even did some paperwork.
It was his shift to keep watch.
He wandered about, thinking about coffee. He could sit at the security cameras but someone was already doing it..Mark Addition? Something like that, he kept rambling about squirrels and being the king of something? God, these recruits nowadays are getting weirder and weirder but who is he to talk? He helped sign off on them..
"DAMN." He whispered, again with Reginald and the new recruit!
He had to let that go, it was one time! He shook his head in anger but the thought only came slamming into him again.
The image of Reginald smiling at the recruit, how the recruit seemed to be inching closer to him.
Seemingly enjoying Reginald's company...
"BWAH!" He said out loud, he needed fresh air.
Right headed out, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He opened them up and smiled...The stars.
No matter where he was, stranded in the jungle, in a secured prison or simply home at the airship..he was happy to see the stars.
The moon was beautiful, a perfect round circle..Right walked towards the railing and let himself breath out and in that fresh evening air...it was perfect.
He smiled, finally at peace. It was perfect tonight.
...Then he heard footsteps behind him...Familiar ones.
But to let him have a win he pretended to not notice, he smiled at how the footsteps carefully stepped towards him.
Then-
"I GOTCHA!"
Reginald snaked his arms around Rights chest and attempted to lift him up...but Right was too dense to lift.
"umFh!" Reginald with all his might tried, tried and determined yet nope, he did not prevail as he just ended up tired.
Right chuckled.
"I think you almost lifted me up, I swear I felt my feet off the ground."
Reginald huffed.
"Enough of the sarcasm, one day I will lift you up then we'll see whose sorry!"
Right chuckled, Reginald laughed..though the punchline did punch, Reginald didn't leave Right's behind, instead he simply stayed there as he wrapped his arms tighter around the man.
Right noticed.
"Reg? What's wrong?"
Reginald didn't say anything as he simply pressed his face into Right's back, which sent a shiver down Rights spine.
"R-Reg?"
Right turned around and in vein, Reginald tried holding on, instead Right broke from the contact, which made Reginald look down.
"Reg? What's wrong?' Right asked again, concern in his voice.
"UMF!" Reginald hug attacked Right, making Right go backwards, thankfully, sturdy railing saved him a and Reginald from sky diving.
Right looked down at Reginald, who just clung onto him like his life depended on it and Right, not knowing what to do, wrapped his arms around Reginald and hugged him.
They stood there in comfortable silence for awhile, enjoying each others embrace.
"Right..Why were you avoiding me?"
...Wait what?
Right pulled away from the embrace and looked down at Reginald.
Reginald looked down, as though he was...sad?
"Avoiding you? Was I avoiding you?"
Reginald looked up, his expression was now hard to read, even for Right.
"It definitely felt like it."
Reginald continued.
"All day, I was trying to talk to you and each time I was even near you, you went the other direction! I spent all day trying to catch up to you, Right!"
Right could now clearly see how frustrated Reginald was, Reginald's eyes were focused on him, how he clenched his fists and was stiff as a board...how to calm him, he wondered..
Right took the back of his hand and placed it on Reginald's cheek, softly caressing it.
Reginald laxed, taking in a sharp breath, his body was no longer stiff but instead seemingly was now at ease with the contact, his fists no longer clenched and his eyes broke away from Right's as he looked down...Right swore he could see the man get a little more red.
It was embarrassing, the chief of the Tophat clan reduced to a blushing mess.
There was some silence, Reginald not muttering a word as Right caressed Reginald's cheek, it seemed to have work where Reginald was more calmer, maybe be able to talk to him without blowing a gasket. Right smiled, Reginald was usually calm under stressful situations but it seemed like he was over the edge..Maybe he was trying to talk to him about something important?
Right heard some mumbling under Reginald's breath.
"Hm? What was that chief?'
Reginald tried to say it louder but it was hard for Right to catch, so Right leaned his head down and whispered into Reginald's ear, low and calm to try and keep him at ease.
"Say it again, please."
"BAH I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT!"
Reginald pulled away from Right and Right was...confused, what did he do?
"What did I do?"
Reginald paced away from him, looked at him and just blew his gasket, yelling at Right.
"I HATE HOW YOU CAN JUST DO THAT TO ME! REDUCE ME TO A BUMBLING MESS BY A SIMPLE TOUCH! HOW LOW AND GROVELY YOUR VOICE IS! HOW EACH TIME I THINK I HAVE YOU, YOU SLIP AWAY FROM ME LIKE...LIKE AN EEL!"
Right was confused...especially about the eel part.
Reginald quieted a bit but still was rather mad.
"I am the chief of a bunch of well skilled thieves and we stole so much precious jewels and money, I plan brilliant capers and yet when I'm with you, I am reduced..to a mess."
Reginald looked away from Right.
Right was concerned and also confused, was Reginald...jealous of him?
That couldn't be right, Reginald should never feel that way, Reginald is amazing, Right thought...how does he make him feel better?
Usually physical touch does the trick on getting Reginald to feel better, but that only made him more upset..
"I'm sorry, Reginald."
Reginald paused and looked back at Right.
"I didn't mean to avoid you, I was just trying to do tasks around the airship..to be honest I wasn't feeling myself today and just wanted to focus on doing tasks, I avoided everyone today but that unintentionally made you feel like I didn't care..when I do."
He paused, nervous on what he was about to say.
“I-I was also concerned and even a little…jealous when you were talking to that new recruit, you seemed to really enjoy his company and it threw me off a bit. It wasn’t my intention to avoid you, it just happened to look like that.”
He panicked when he realized.
“J-Just to clarify, I didn’t avoid you because of him…I avoided everyone because I…”
He paused and looked into Reginald’s brown eyes.
He smiled.
“I deeply care about you, more than you could ever know.”
It made Right’s face feel red and Reginald’s eyebrows raised as he realized what Right meant by that.
“I want to make it up to you.”
Cautiously, he went over to Reginald.
"I'm sorry Chief, I mean it, what can I do to show you that I'm sorry?"
Reginald paused but then approached Right.
He then took Right's hand and put it back on his cheek, which Right welcomed by having his thumb brush his cheek, ever so softly.
"Just...stand still."
Right nodded.
Reginald leaned in and kissed Right on the cheek.
Right's mind broke and it showed as Reginald pulled back and smiled.
"Finally, some equal footing here."
Before Right could mutter a word, Reginald leaned in again and kissed his cheek, he was now chest and chest with Right.
Right shivered as Reginald went from kissing his cheek, to his neck and collar bones..then started to have his hands roam Right's body.
"I-" Right was able to mumble out as Reginald just started getting more..into it.
"Wait, wait, please wait-" Right sputtered out, now he was a blushing mess as he was not expecting..THAT.
"I'm sorry, I ended up getting carried away." Reginald hugged Right as he he started rubbing Right's back, doing a circle motion
Right's breathing was heavy, heart pounding and mind spinning.
WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT. WHAT JUST HAPPENED? WHY DOES HE FEEL LIKE LIGHTER THEN AIR YET HEAVY AS HELL??
He was overwhelmed.
Reginald smiled as stood as tall as he could, leaned into Right's ear.
"I love you, Right. I always have after all these years.."
Right's head was spinning but those words made him stop.
Finally, it all made sense.
The way Reginald would always make time for him even though he was so stressed out, the way Reginald would always make and give Right his morning coffee..the way Reginald would always talk to him after every seemingly suspicious recruit to make him feel better..he did so much more for him, all little things that made Right fall for him, as the little things like making him laugh or just being by his side was enough to show that Reginald, cared. Deeply about him.
Like how he cared about Reginald.
Right hugged Reginald back, the stars twinkled, the moon shined brightly as all things were now back to when Right first came out here, peaceful.
It was comfortable silence, until Right smirked.
"God..I am very dense. How did I not notice?"
Reginald laughed, pulling away to put his hands on Right's broad shoulders.
"You're a very direct person when it comes to getting a job done, not when talking about feelings, Right."
There was a pause.
'...Sorry that I called you an eel."
Right smiled.
"Non taken, I am pretty fast..but I would like a proper apology. Through..actions."
Reginald's interest was peaked.
"Ohhh, Right...I didn't know you wanted that so quickly."
"Oh...OH WAIT, no not that yet-"
Right paused, blushing a lot.
I mean he wanted too, it was just-
"I want to properly date you, take you out on a dinner before we do that as...I'm not ready yet."
So much was happening, he needed to just relax for tonight before anything like that were to occur.
He freaked out slightly, until he felt a hand on his cheek that brought him back.
Then he saw Reginald's smile, that ever so loving smile.
"I understand Right.” Which made aright feel more at ease.
“Why don't we just..Cuddle for tonight? In my room?"
Right smiled as he leaned down and kissed Reginald forehead.
"I would love that."
They both linked arms as they walked back inside the airship.
Reginald resting his head on Right’s shoulder.
Jealous? Concerned? Not anymore.