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"Dude, the two of you are practically identical."
Both Ballista and Agent perked up and looked at one of the Rocket. corp workers. One they usually call John.
"Are you sure you're not actually long lost twins?" John continued, still wearing that cheeky smile.
Agent shrugged, "We're distant relatives."
"Do we really look that similar?" Ballista asked, looking as curious as ever.
"Well, yeah! You both have long black hair, wear glasses - though Agent is purely performative - and are really dang smart."
While Agent gave an offended look (yes, his glasses are performative, though he'd never admit it) Ballista looked a bit pleased. Though it's true that he sometimes needed glasses because his eye system often malfunctions, Ballista was only happy purely because he wants to be like Agent.
John noticed the sun shimmering on the youngest mercenary's face, "See? The little gremlin likes it!"
"Get back to your duties, you slacker," Agent smacked John's head, earning a laugh before he left the room.
Shaking his head in frustration, Agent turned to see Ballista beaming at a mirror that appeared from his body, wearing his thin round glasses.
Wait.
Mirror?
"Since when did you-"
"We really do look alike! Look, we both have that mole near our eye!"
Agent's shoulder relaxed slightly. How could he be mad at such an innocent and oblivious face?
The both of them were distant cousins. Ballista didn't know much about Agent, but Agent knows everything about Ballista's life. The youngest mercenary had been ecstatic when he found that he had a distant cousin. They properly met each other two weeks before the Mercenary Tryouts.
Everyone knew Ballista always lived his life in isolation. Agent remembered the first time his family finally visited him. That tiny artificial figure greeted them with stars in his eyes.
"Mother and father never told me I had relatives! Please, come inside! I have some brownies!"
Agent, a bit younger, stepped inside along with his parents. He glanced around the small house. It looked rather barren. There weren't many furniture around, only the bare necessities like a couch, a stove, a fridge... Ballista didn't even have a TV.
"This is their house? Hm. Turns out all that arrogance was just a mask," Agent heard his mother whisper to his father.
"Why do we even have to be here in the first place?"
A frown dawned on Agent's face. Instead of dwelling with his parents, he walked to Ballista's side and offered a small smile. The most genuine he could offer.
And Ballista gave him the sun.
Looking back, Ballista probably knew that he was different. Special. No one had been there to tell him otherwise. Except Agent.
"You know you should really get your eyes checked. Maybe you actually have a problem with your eyes."
Agent rolled his eyes, "My eyes are perfectly fine. Try booting your system properly."
The two laughed together in the workshop, Ballista completely ignoring whatever he was working on.
As their laughter subsides, Agent peeks at his reflection from Ballista's mirror.