(Book One of the ❝Stories and Legends of the Apex Predators❞ Series)
Mirage, the self-proclaimed jokester of the legends, has some serious thinking to do. After a love confession from Wraith ends with heartbreak on her end, Mirage begins to question...
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The match was located on World's Edge and Mirage was jumpmaster. He put on his goggles, shot Crypto a smile, and ran off the ship. Crypto followed suit, staying close behind Mirage as they landed at The Geyser. They were lucky, having no other teams following them and most of their opponents choosing to drop into Fragment East and West.
"You look for supplies," Crypto spoke to Mirage. "I'll keep an eye out with my drone."
"Already?" Mirage questioned, walking away as he did as his teammate requested him to do. "We just landed."
"I know, but Ash is keeping a close eye on us. I want to make sure she doesn't try to sneak up and surprise attack us."
"Why is she after us? Also--Triple Take or CAR S.M.G.?"
"Triple Take." Crypto logged off his drone but didn't recall it, thus letting him be able to know if anyone was coming up behind them. He approached where Mirage was to grab the sniper, but he blocked Crypto from doing so. "Mwo haseyo?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"Yeah, I did. I said I wanted--"
"The other one, Crypto." It was a rare moment where Mirage wasn't messing around. His unsmiling face showed Crypto he was serious. "Why is Ash after us? She's one of, if not the most dangerous legends here!"
Crypto sighed, picking up the gun and loading it as he spoke, "She thinks I have a soft spot for you. Despite that, however, she expects us to be 'worthy adversaries.'" Crypto's tired eyes looked at Mirage, nervously biting his bottom, unsmiling lip.
Mirage, not expecting that answer, blinked in disbelief. "She thinks you have a soft spot for... me?" Crypto shrugged and went to walk away, but Mirage grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him. "Wait, now--"
"No, Mirage, this conversation is done. I'm not speaking about it anymore."
"Well, I'm not."
"Too bad, I have nothing more to say." He pulled out his tablet to log back into his drone so he could hide his red face, but Mirage pushed it down gently. The two locked eyes. "Now what are you d--"
He was cut off by Mirage's gentle lips on his. To say Crypto was stunned wouldn't be enough to describe what he felt... but, he didn't hate or dislike it. He very much enjoyed it, as he knew deep down, he would never have the courage to make such a bold first move as this one. He stood on the tips of his toes as he wrapped his arms around Mirage's neck.
For the first time in a long time, Crypto didn't feel like he was hiding who he was.
When they finally pulled away, Mirage took Crypto's hands in his gave a soft chuckle. "I guess I didn't need to flirt as Loba said... I figured it out on my own."
It wasn't often Crypto smiled, but he couldn't stop himself from doing so when he looked at the flustered Mirage in front of him. He was awkward, silly, and no one would have expected Crypto to have fallen for him. He was simply perfect. "Well, I'm sorry to cut this moment short, but we must get back to the game."
"Right... The game..." Mirage seemed a bit disappointed.
Crypto raised a brow. "What? Did you think we could just stand around and makeout without actually doing our job?"
"... Maybe..."
He huffed. "Well, as nice as that sounds, we don't have the luxury to do so; there may be no squads around, but we still got to get into the ring."
Mirage nodded and began to follow Crypto towards Lava Siphon. As they walked in silence for a few minutes, Mirage finally cleared his throat and spoke, "S-So, like, what are we? A-Are we boyfriends now or..."
"Well, do you want to be?"
"Yeah... Yeah, I would."
"Then we're boyfriends, Elliott." Crypto would rather die than admit it, but it felt nice to say those words.
"Okay, but are we gay or--"
Crypto turned around and cupped Mirage's face. "We don't need labels, alright? Don't worry about it too much. We're just two guys who just so happen to be dating. No one needs to know anything more than that. What you want to identify as is up to you."
Mirage leaned into Crypto's touch, putting his hand over Crypto's, and exhaled. "It's gonna take some getting used to saying I have a boyfriend... but I like it, I think. It's nice to have someone care about me and not call me an idiot all the time."
"We can talk about this more after we're not out in the open, okay?" Crypto took his hand off Mirage's face. "Let's use this zipline. Once we get up there, let's get into one of the buildings and I'll check the area in my drone."
Mirage nodded and jumped on with Crypto following shortly after. Wanting to be in the open for the shortest time possible, the two rushed into the nearest structure, making sure the doors were closed. For extra measure, Mirage put one of his decoys outside the one the two entered from
Crypto looked around, growing worried. "Someone's been here." He picked up a Mastiff, cocked it with nearby ammo, and looked at Mirage. "Make sure that ultimate of yours is ready--We're gonna need it."
