“Are you nervous?” Says the voice coming from behind, and as you turn, you find your boyfriend, Mickey Barnes, standing close, his hand resting gently on your waist.

You and Mickey have been through everything together—long before he met Timo, before the disastrous macaron business, and even before President Marshall first floated the idea of an interstellar expedition.

You’ve always been there. Always have been, always will be.

Even now, as he makes the bold decision to join President Marshall’s mission to colonize a new planet. You fought against it at first, but Mickey had his reasons—ones you couldn’t ignore. The loan sharks.

They had been after him and Timo for years, suffocating your relationship with constant threats and impossible debts. What kind of partner would you be if you didn’t stand by him? Even if it meant leaving everything behind—leaving Earth itself.

You glance up at him, dressed in his beige coat, hoodie pulled over his head, introverted as ever, clutching the documents that would determine your future. The two of you stand in line, waiting.

“Yeah,” you murmur. “Are you?”

Mickey shakes his head without hesitation, confidence steady in his voice. “I’m ready to get off this planet. Timo already secured his spot as a pilot. That just leaves me and you to be together. Alone.” He teases with the raising of his brows.