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“Yo, Mirage!” Noah called out, waltzing into the garage with an extra touch of swagger in his step.
The sound of whirring lasted only a second before Mirage was up. “Finally! You’re back!” Mirage grinned and held his arms out, emphasizing his relief before stretching dramatically.
“What took ya so long? I’ve been itching to get outta here all day Man.” Mirage put his servos on his hips and looked at Noah with eager optics. “So, where we goin’?”
“Nah, nothing crazy tonight,” Noah said, shrugging off his jacket. “Friday though. Friday,” Noah nodded, “I got plans and I was maybe thinkin’ you could help your boy out.” He looked up at Mirage with raised brows before continuing. “If you’re up for it, would you give me and this girl a ride? I finally asked her out and I wanna do it right, ya know?”
Mirage grinned and quietly scoffed, “What’re you goin’ on a date for?”
Noah chuckled, “What you mean ‘what am I going on a date for? I’ve been waiting for weeks to find the right moment to ask Jen out, so Friday’s like, a big deal.”
Mirage furrowed his brow, still softly smiling, “What? Am I like, not good enough for you or something?”
Noah waited for the rest of his sarcastic comment, but Mirage didn’t blink, instead he raised his brow ridge to emphasize the question.
Oh.
He was serious.
Noah’s stomach fell a little and he hoped he was just misreading things. Mirage would crack up in a second with a little ‘gotcha’ moment. Right?
But he didn’t, and the silence was starting to make Noah’s hands shake. He finally held them up, palms out, and gently shook his head while taking a step back from the mech.
“Hey man, I don’t know what you’re playin’ at, but I think you might have the wrong idea.”
Mirage vaguely waved a servo in the air, “Well, I mean, I know it’s not like we get to go do ‘normal’ stuff. I enjoy our dates though, and movie night is always fun, but hey, if you wanted more you could’ve just said so.”
Holy shit. He was entirely serious.
“Hold up, hold up, hold up,” Noah sat down on a chair in the corner of the garage. “You seriously think we’re dating?” he hesitantly asked.
“Well yeah, I mean,” Mirage took a long pause before looking at Noah with a bright, genuine look in his optics. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
Noah scoffed, “I don’t know, maybe the whole giant alien robot thing?” As soon as he said it he realized the frustration in his words was a little rougher than intended.
Mirage frowned. This was the first time Noah had seen him look like this. The usually humorous, optimistic mech looked hurt.
“But, what about all those late night drives?” he asked.
“They’re to get you outta this stuffy garage.”
“But, what about all the talking?”
“That’s just what friends do , Mirage.”
Mirage looked down and was quiet for a moment. “Friends don’t talk like we do,” he mumbled.
Noah thought for a moment. Yeah they do. It’s all normal stuff… Right? Before he could respond, Mirage was speaking again.
“You tell me everything. You couldn't do that with just anyone.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh really? Dude, you talk so much I know what you do from dawn ‘til dusk.” Mirage started leisurely pacing around the garage, listing each point on his digits.
“Like what the lady at the sandwich shop had to say to you today, or how tired you are of that one annoyingly catchy ad that plays on the TV at work all the time, or what kind of pizza you saw a rat carrying in the subway.”
Noah opened his mouth, but Mirage kept going.
“Sure, maybe that’s what friends do, but then what about when you shared that dream you keep having where you’re walking under scaffolding and it falls in on you and you have to-“
“Don’t,” Noah said through clenched teeth.
Mirage paused for a moment before continuing his list. “What about all those long conversations about the pressure you feel? Huh? You admitting you’re scared about what’s gonna happen in the future?”
Mirage knelt down, eye level with Noah now.
“Do you share all that heavy shit for fun? Or is it that you want to share it with Me ? Because I don’t think those drives are just my daily walk around the block or whatever.” He shrugged his shoulders up. “You really don’t look forward to those?”
“Now I never said that-“ Noah retorted, but Mirage wouldn’t let him finish.
“Ok fine! Tell me we’re ‘just friends’ and I’ll drop it.”
Noah’s eyes were wide. He couldn’t say anything. What are you supposed to say to that when you’re stared at by someone with the expression of a sad puppy?
The silence gave Mirage the fuel to keep going. He got back on his pedes, held his servos up, and sighed, “For argument's sake, let’s just say yeah it’s whatever,” he huffed. “I might believe you didn’t know if it weren’t for those looks.”
“What looks?” Noah asked, truly oblivious.
“Y’know the looks. The ones that feel like you got freaky lazer eyes and when I catch you staring, you turn away.” He was looking at Noah with a sly grin now. “C’mon I’ve seen the movies. People don’t do that unless they’re embarrassed they got caught. You for real get embarrassed by lookin’ at your ‘friend’?” He put extra emphasis on ‘friend’ before peering at Noah with intense skepticism.
And Noah knew he was right.
“But sure, sure. It’s just the alien robot thing.”
Mirage stepped away and waited, knowing Noah wouldn’t just leave without saying something back. At least not when talking to him.
Noah’s thoughts were racing. It seemed so obvious now, looking back at his behavior over the last few weeks. Mirage was just naturally flirty, but now knowing it was directed at him he couldn’t help but blush. Noah realized that he acted like he had a crush on Mirage, because he did . It’s just easy to ignore your feelings when you don’t want them to be true. That is, until the object of your affection shoves it back in your face.
He knew he had to say something. He wanted to say a lot of things. But if he was gonna let himself do this, he was gonna do it in a way he knew Mirage would appreciate. He grinned and shot Mirage a side eyed look.
“Is it gay if it’s with a robot?”
Mirage looked up surprised before his roar of laughter filled the room. After the laughter died down he mimed wiping tears from his optics while Noah stood up and walked over.
“Yeah I think it still counts,” Mirage said while leaning down again, moving to meet Noah half way and holding a servo out to him.
Noah hesitantly lifted his hand before letting it rest in Mirage’s. He smiled softly as he felt smooth metal digits gently embrace his entire hand. That would take some getting used to.
Finally looking at Mirage’s face, he couldn’t help but melt a little at the quiet affection he saw there. That was his best friend looking at him like that, and even though It would take a while before he could admit it out loud, he knew he loved him.
“So I guess Jen’s gonna be pretty disappointed when Friday rolls around,” Mirage said smugly.
“Shit. Aw man I’m gonna have-“ He was cut off by Mirage leaning in so close he was almost touching his forehead.
“Relax. I’ll drive and fully enjoy embarrassing you by sabotaging the night. She won’t want a second date, you won’t look like the bad guy, and I get to fuck around. Win-win, baby.”
Noah shook his head and smiled, “Nah, nah I’m not sitting through all that. I’ll suck it up and cancel.”
“Then we get to have our own date Friday? A real one this time,” Mirage eagerly suggested.
Noah thought for a second and smiled shyly, “Why wait ‘till Friday?”
Before he knew it they were off for a drive like any other night. But this time, Noah felt the relief of a weight he hadn’t realized he was carrying. This time, everything finally felt right.