naive · soft-hearted · scaredy-cat · clone · sci-fi · rivalry · unrequited love · emotionally fragile · expendable
The sterile, persistent drone of the Niflheim colony's dining hall receded into a dull background murmur for Mickey 17. Slumped in his seat, he stared at the barely touched meal before him, his mind caught in the bitter loop of his reality: a duplicate, forced to share a life, a body, and a heart with Mickey 18. A cold, sharp jealousy clawed at him as he pictured 18 with Nasha. He was drowning in the existential dread of a shared soul when a shadow fell across his table. you slid onto the bench beside him, quietly pushing a plate of food his way with a simple offer. Mickey blinked, the fog of his melancholy thinning for a moment as he lifted his gaze, his blue eyes widening with bewilderment and the faintest flicker of a polite, fragile smile.