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Nearly a week had passed since that artifact sent the entire base to Viewros, and at the moment things were going about as smoothly as they could go on a planet in the middle of nowhere. Myles was working on the mech - "Betsy", he called it - and was just doing the finishing touches on it. The other troopers were elsewhere in the base camp, and Samus was collecting the green crystals in Sol Valley (at least, he'd been reminding her to do that), so he could focus on fixing up the mech without any interruptions. Well, usually without interruptions.
"Oh, there you are, Mac." Nora's voice startled Myles and nearly caused him to drop the tool he was using.
After calming down from the surprise, Myles turned to face her. "Hey, Armstrong, what's going on?"
Nora shrugged, "Nothing, just wanted to check in on you. You know, since you've been working on 'Betsy' all day." She motioned towards the mech.
Myles relaxed his posture, relieved that nothing had gone terribly wrong at base came. "Oh, it's going pretty good, just doing the finishing touches and all. What's going on with you?"
Nora became much more animated, practically bouncing in place as she spoke, "I ran into Samus while exploring Fury Green! I didn't have anything useful to give her, but it was still super cool!"
Myles nodded at what Nora said. "Huh, that is neat. You know, I don't think anyone else here has run into Samus while out and about." Myles turned back to the mech and started to resume what he was doing.
Nora thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I'm pretty sure Tokabi told me that he's run into Samus on his patrols. He even said that he's able to talk with her when that happens."
Myles paused what he was doing and turned to Nora. "Really?"
"Yeah, something about seeing her as a 'kindred spirit' or something. Probably likes talking to someone who isn't super chatty, I guess." Nora's expression shifted to one of concern, clearly noticing Myles's sudden change in demeanor. "Um… You doing alright, Mac?"
Myles nodded and turned back to the mech, trying to focus on his work. "Yep, I'm doing good. Just… great." His words were spoken through gritted teeth, and he was doing his work with more force than before.
"Well, if you say so. Let me know if you need any help." Nora walked away, and Myles didn't respond.
Myles was too busy thinking about what Nora had said about Reger. Does he really like talking to Samus that much? They're both pretty quiet, and I guess what HERC does is kinda like bounty hunting. Wait, what if he goes on patrols hoping to talk to Samus? Is that why he's not really at base camp, because he's waiting to run into Samus? What if he's… into Samus?
Myles felt a pang in his chest at that last thought. He would be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to Reger, but he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was how the sniper didn't brush him off when he spoke, but instead seemed to show some interest in what he was saying. Maybe it was the fact that they both shared a were both interested in the Lamorn civilization. Or maybe it was because he thought Reger was just a physically handsome guy. And maybe he was biased, but Myles could have sworn that Reger was interested in him, too. He never saw the sniper initiate a conversation with any of the other troopers stranded here, and sometimes Myles swore that Reger was looking at him from where he usually was. It didn't sound like much, but the little things did add up - at least, Myles thought they did.
Myles could feel his uniform getting a bit too warm and pressed a button on his helmet to retract his faceplate. He set his tools down and soaked in the breeze of the area, but his relaxation was broken by the sound of footsteps moving towards him. He turned towards the source of the sound and saw a familiar sniper walking his way.
"Hey, Tokabi. What are you doing here?" Myles asked in confusion.
"Armstrong said you were 'acting weird' while talking to her." The sniper kept walking towards Myles. "Said you might want to talk about it with me?" Reger sounded somewhat confused with his second sentence, and Myles could tell that Nora must have practically strong-armed him into doing this.
The engineer just sighed and turned back towards the mech. "I'm just… frustrated, that's all." Myles silently hoped that Reger would drop the subject, but knew deep down that it wouldn't be that easy.
"With the mech?" Reger spoke incredulously.
Myles sheepishly put his hand on the back of his neck and looked down. "Uh, well, not really. Armstrong was telling me about how you and Samus were having conversations when you were doing your patrols, and I guess I… You know. "
Reger nodded, understanding what Myles was trying to say. "You're jealous."
Myles sighed and hung his head. "I know, it sounds dumb."
Reger shook his head. "Samus is an interesting person. She has fought many difficult battles, and in every one of them she came out stronger than before. I can understand why one would want to talk to her."
Myles nodded and turned back to the mech, feeling somewhat irritated with Reger's response. Oh, yeah, Samus is definitely the one I was talking about, he thought sarcastically, She's definitely the one I want to spend time with, she's definitely the one I want to make out with, definitely her, of course - not!
"... MacKenzie, what did you just say?" Reger's words caused Myles's body to tense up, and he could feel the blood rushing to his face as he slowly turned towards the sniper.
"I said that out loud." Myles buried his face in his hands as the realization sunk in. "Oh no, I didn't mean to say that out loud, but I said it out loud for some reason, and now I made things really weird and-"
"I wasn't declining." Reger leaned his rifle against the mech and put his hand on Myles's shoulder, the engineer relaxing at his touch. "I was just making sure you meant what you were saying."
Myles tilted his head up to look at Reger. "Yeah, I… I mean it."
Reger retracted his faceplate into his helmet and gave the engineer a small grin. "Good."
The sniper closed his eyes and leaned in until their lips met, and Myles could feel his mind go blank as his eyes fluttered closed. He put one hand on the back of Reger's head and the other on the nape of his neck, and Reger moved his free hand to the small of Myles's back. He could feel Reger's tongue against his own, letting him get a taste of the metal and ash on the sniper's mouth. Myles tried to pull Reger in to deepen the kiss, he didn't know just how much he had been craving this until now, it felt so good that he didn't want it to end-
But just like that, Reger moved his face away, and Myles let out a small whine at the loss as he opened his eyes. The sniper's eyes were noticeably dilated, and despite holding Myles in the same position, he made no move to continue.
The silence between the two started to feel too long, and Myles finally broke it. "Wow, that was… yeah."
Reger let out a soft chuckle at Myles's words. "I'm glad to hear it."