How to get rid of the red romance bar (without mods or cheats)?

I know it goes down with time, and possibly friendly interactions...I currently have some exes and the red bar is less now than when they first broke up. I'm not sure what to speed this along though, since I'm not trying to get them back together, but it is possible.

I think time is what you need. The red bar will slowly decrease as time goes on meaning you'll be able to flirt etc soon and it will work.

Keep them apart for awhile, and eventually the romance bar will move to neutral. At that point, you'll want to start over again with low level romance (flirt, complement appearance) and work your way up.

Ah, ok!

So...is it a bad idea for them to be living together? They work different hours so they really don't see eachother that often :/

No not such a bad idea to let them live together. I would suggest patience. Just like in real life. Get them to do friendly things together. If you can get them back close to best friends your in.

I'm trying to be patient but just out of curosity...how long should I expect to wait because it's been almost a sim week and the bar's still full red :/ they keep doing autonomous flirting lol and getting upset so I think that's a big part of the problem...

Thats a tough one. You may have to keep a close rein on them to stop that flirting thing. Gotta make em' friends again first. Use the friendly stuff. Flatter, heartfelt compliment, funny stuff etc. Do you get the smooth recovery under romance for one of them? That helps.

Adjust the club format for more friendly things for awhile. And make sure they won't flirt with anyone outside of the club too, to avoid jealousy and all that.

You will have to really micromanage them, so it is good that they live together allowing you to take control of each sim.

Make sure that friendly bar is at least 75 percent on both sims before even attempting any romantic interactions. No need for the clubs and stuff...romantic incense, love cookies (or whatever they are called) is the way to go for a little help along.

Keep the romantic interactions to the light ones to start - flirt appears to the most gentle.

'Impress with video game prowess' is your friend.