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With no task at dawn to worry about, Red’s mind drifted to Purple as it so often did. Especially at night when it was quiet and there was nothing their mind could drift away to.
Purple… Purple… Purple… They always lay in the back of their mind, somehow, someway. All the way back from their first meeting at their internship, to the aftermath of the reactor incident, to when they practically begged MIRA to hire them for security, to almost every second they spent on The Skeld. Red couldn’t help but wonder if Purple pictured them in the same way.
With everybody gone, it was just the two of them. Red shivered at the thought. The nights were significantly empty with the loss of ten of their crewmates… All once so full of life… With families to get back to… Ugh, nothing Red wanted to think about now. They shut their eyes as they could in hopes of finally getting some sleep.
After what seemed like forever, their mind found itself relaxing, wandering towards the thought of Purple once again. Their bravery throughout their final battle against Green—the murderer of the majority— was extremely admirable. The way they lured them out defenselessly, and put their full dependency and whole trust on a “captain” like them… Their face warmed remembering the way they cupped Red’s face before taking off for what could’ve been the last time.
Red couldn’t imagine where they’d be if Purple were–
…
Suddenly, Red’s eyes shot open as they swiftly jumped out of their cot, tripping over themselves trying to get their crocs and hat on. They bolted towards the door of their room in a cold sweat. How stupid of them to leave Purple all alone again! Did Purple even want to be with them..? Did they really need comfort from somebody who was just their coworker? Come on, Red, don’t be stupid. None of that would matter if Purple were really…
To Red’s surprise, their door slid open before they commanded and revealed an exhausted Purple holding their blanket and pillow, causing Red to stumble backwards in absolute shock.
“AAAAH! P-Purple-!”
“HOUGH-! God…” Purple jumped back, barely missing Red with an instinctive slap through the air before taking a sigh of relief realizing it was only their co-worker. “Red! What the.. You.. you SCARED me, I-” They stared down at Red who stared back up at them with an almost endearing smile.
God, they looked pathetic. It was a little cute. Like a back-when-Red-was-an-intern-with-them kind of cute. Unfortunately, not cute enough to forgive and forget everything. Even after they had technically made up, a part of them still wanted to punch them in the face.
…but for now, for tonight… Purple came by for a different reason.
Red scrambled up to their feet and dusted themselves off. It was a good thing they fell backwards. They could practically hear the whoosh of Purple’s hand flying through the air… It would have definitely hurt. Left a mark, even. Why were they thinking so much about what would’ve happened if it DID hit them?
“P-purps!” Red exclaimed. “I uh… wasn’t… LONELY or scared or anything I- was JUST on my way to go around for a VERY captainly check up, aha… A good captain has to ensure the.. Safety of their crewmates..! After all!” Yeah. Amazing save.
“A captainly check up. At this hour.” Purple let out a small scoff of disbelief. Red had always been a bad liar. Would it kill them to be themselves for once? Purple missed that part of them. “Enough with the lying, Redsie.”
“Uh…” Red couldn’t help but stop and smile at their old nickname. It always drove a kind of sensation throughout their body no other kind of compliment could touch. “Okay, I couldn’t sleep… And maybe I was KIND of feeling lonely… and scared…" Their sentences trailed off. Red choked as if their words became bottled up in their throat, which Purple seemed to notice.
Purple was a bit surprised at how fast they had folded. Just a few days ago, being scared and lonely were things Red could never admit. They gave a small nod. “Err.. Yeah, that’s… kinda why I showed up here. I can’t sleep… I-I don’t think ANYBODY could after what happened! I just…” They paused to take a deep breath.
“...want to be where I can see you.”
“You came here to see me?” Red replied a little too immediately with a poorly hidden smile and hint of hopefulness in their voice. Did being where Purple could see them at such a late hour imply… sleeping..? together..? In the same cot. I mean, that could be why Purple came by with their bedding and all.
Red felt their heart rate increase at the image. “I-I MEAN! Well! Well, here I am, now! Captain to the rescue, haha..! Right here. In.. in your vision.” They put both their hands on their hips, striking a pose as confidently as they could muster, but it was hard to mask the trembling.
“Great.” Purple simply spoke, not willing to spell out exactly what they wanted. They were sure Red had gotten the idea, judging by their face somehow a DEEPER red than they already were. Purple grabbed Red’s wrist, dragging them back towards their cot. “Since I’m already here, I guess we could just use your room.”
Red felt themselves flinch at Purple’s touch. “Wait, so we ARE sleeping together..?”
“Haugh… Reeeddd, when did you become such a pervert-?”
“It’s- it’s not what you think! I meant wiiiith..! Our clothes on! Sleeping next to one another– nothing more! Ahahaha-! We are just coworkers after all, and last time I checked sleeping with your coworkers? Pfft- HIGHLY inappropriate! Completely against MIRA code! Oh- well, not that it matters anymore.. Against- uh, Purps n’ Redsie code-! Against–”
They would’ve stopped Red a while ago if they didn’t find their desperate attempt to remedy their words so hilarious. “Pfft, I’m just teasing, Redsie. I know what you meant.” They fluffed their pillow and laid their blanket down next to Red’s. “Not like you could get that far anyway.” Purple quickly muttered with a smirk.
“Good.. good. I was worried– Wha.. what was that-?”
“Nooothin’! Just.. C’mere already… ‘M tired.”
Red couldn’t argue with that. Especially when Purple spoke in such a low, raspy tone. They stood to the side and fidgeted with their hands so as to not seem too eager to hop into the same bed with them, but it was near impossible to resist it.
Gently, they climbed into their cot next to the other, tensing when feeling the full warmth of Purple’s body. The bed wasn’t made for two. The two were extremely close. They hadn’t been this close since their intern days.
Moments passed, but the night wasn’t lonely any longer. It was quiet but… calm. “Purple.. I.. I missed this.” Red absentmindedly mumbled. Purple didn’t respond. They didn’t know if they wanted to. It was better for the both of them if Red just thought they were asleep, but deep down, they felt the same way.