“You’re actually awake before noon, I’m shocked.”

Mira jumped as Seb popped out from around the corner. She yelped in surprise, clutching the cups of coffee in her hands a little tighter.

“Jesus, you scared me,” she hissed. “Jokes on you though, I never slept.” She paused for a moment noticing the ketchup stains on his shirt and deep eye bags under his eyes. “Looks like you haven’t either.”

“I’ve been awake for two days straight,” Seb deadpanned, his eyes as bright as a dead fish. “Passed out in the Science Building. Gonna pass out again in the comfort of my bed.”

Mira laughed. “How’s the exams going?”

“Fuck you,” Seb snapped back, squinting his eyes. He glanced at the two cups in her hands. “Are those for me?”

“Nope,” she smirked. “Unless you’re Kalmin and have a History exam in an hour.”

Seb cringed in disgust. “My god, you both are so disgustingly cute, who does that?”

“Normal people?” She chuckled.

He dramatically groaned. “People in love.”

“Someone’s a sore loser,” she teased.

Seb shot her a dirty look. “You lovey-dovey thruples disgust me,” he hissed. Then he paused, his expression changing to shock. “I-I mean, not in a hating poly people way- the people in love doing grossly cute acts of service way.”

Mira burst out laughing. “Don’t worry about it, I know,” she giggled. “Get some rest dude, you’re cranky.”

Seb grumbled and nodded. “You’re probably correct. You wanna come in and see Kalmin yourself or are you gonna just sit here in the cold?”

Mira frowned. “I thought about it, but I don’t wanna be surrounded by a bunch of sleep-deprived male hockey players. I’ll wait in the snow, it’ll keep me awake.”

“Fair,” Seb shrugged. “I’ll yell at Kalmin though to hurry the fuck up and not keep his girlfriend standing in the snow.”

Mira giggled. “Thanks, dude.”

“Anytime, my pal,” he chirped, waving her off and wandering inside.

Before Kalmin came out, a group of boys filed out of the side entrance led by a tall, pale blonde with big blue eyes. He looked the oldest out of the group, laughing heartedly at a joke by a younger man who was vaping and blowing huge clouds of smoke that smelled like vanilla chai. Mira cringed a little as they passed, watching them go until the blonde one spotted her and stared her oddly.

“Hey! You’re Kalmin’s friend!” He announced suddenly.

Mira blinked rapidly and tensed up, feeling the heat of seven sets of eyes stare at her all at once. Crowds of boys always sucked.

“Hi, that’s me,” she replied back.

The blonde trudged through the snow with a big smile and stretched out his hand.

“I’m Greg, teammate of his,” he introduced.

Mira glanced down at the coffees she was holding and awkwardly pressed one to her chest so her left hand was free. She shook his hand, noticing his hand was just a little bit too clammy for her taste.

“You’re really cute up close, you seriously not dating Kalmin?” He joked as they pulled away.

Mira blinked.

“I’m dating Deimos,” she said bluntly. “Kalmin’s a close friend.”

Greg nodded thoughtfully. “Oh, I know, he talks about you all the time. Always looking at his phone like an asshole during meetings.” He sniffled a little and glanced at the crowd of younger boys behind him. “This is Mira, guys! She’s Kalmin’s friend,” he said, glancing back just to wink at her when he said, “friend.”

Mira bristled.

“He’s just a friend,” she replied a little bit too sharply.

Greg raised his hands in defeat. “No, I get it. Sometimes you can’t just have enough. I’ve got lots of partners too depending on my mood,” he sneered, winking at her again.

Was he calling her a slut?

This was completely new.

“Girls can be friends with boys without having to be sexual,” she stated calmly.

“Sure, sweetheart,” Greg said sweetly. He leaned in close, maybe too close. “If you ever get bored of that prude, you know where to find me.”

Mira flushed red, but before she could snap at him, a huge wave of snow smacked him in the side. Instead of seeing Kalmin at the top of the steps storming down, a shorter, paler boy with a shaven head and piercings jumped down.

“Fuck off, Gregory,” he spat out.

“Nikola, I’m just playing around,” Greg rolled his eyes, wiping the snow off him distastefully. He stepped back and away from her, but not after giving her a sleazy smile and a wink. “See you around, Mira.”

“I hope not,” she deadpanned.

Nikola walked over to her, his face a little flushed red and a scowl ruining his face. Kind of reminded Mira of Deimos.

“You good?” He asked a little harshly. Definitely reminded Mira of Deimos. Hostile chivalry was something they knew very well.

“I am, thanks,” she nodded. Nikola studied her for a moment, glancing at the cups and shifting his footing.

“You’re allowed to wait near the doors and not in the snow, y’know,” he said calmly. “Kalmin’s almost ready.”

She blinked. “Does everyone know who I am?”

Nikola blinked. “Yes.”

Mira laughed. “Well, shit, I hope not all of them think like Greg.”

“No one thinks like Greg, he’s a douche,” Nikola spat out, bristling like a cat. “Don’t listen to a fucking word he says.”

Mira’s lips quirked into a smile. Definite Deimos vibes. Were they siblings? Obviously the skin tones, eye colours and overall face shape don’t match, but their mannerisms were all the same. She blushed a little.

“I wasn’t going to, thank you anyway,” she chuckled.

Shyly, Nikola smiled at her.

“Mira!”

And then in seconds long arms were around her and Kalmin’s lips were pressed against her cheek. It threw her out of a loop for a second, still a little stunned by this cute Deimos look-alike’s smile. She still smiled and patted Kalmin’s arm, trying to keep it as friendly as she could, since, y’know, she isn’t a slut and not supposed to be in a very, very intense romantic relationship with Kalmin.

“Hi, dude,” she said with a loose grin. Kalmin kept her arms wrapped around her, and her heart did flips because she was still so, so starved off him even with their late night sexcapade a few days back.

“Did you seriously bring coffee for me?” Kalmin questioned, absolutely beaming even if he looked like he hadn’t had a decent amount of sleep in a while.

“It’s been a while since we saw each other and I wanted to wish you luck…dude,” she said a little awkward, noticing Nikola was still here, staring at Kalmin and her with big blue eyes. Was he cringing? Was he angry?

Kalmin seemed to not notice with that big sunshine smile stretched across his face as he took one of the coffee cups. “Thank you, it means a lot,” he grinned. “Now I have to ace this test.”

“That’s the plan,” Mira joked. Nikola was still staring. Mira’s plan was to maybe catch Kalmin when no one’s looking to give him a good luck kiss…but that’s not happening now.

Kalmin took a few sips of his coffee and traded looks between his girlfriend and teammate. He was still smiling prettily, unaware of the insanely awkward situation.

“So do you guys know each other?” Kalmin chirped.

Mira coughed a laugh and gave Nikola an odd look. “Not exactly. Just helped me get out of an awkward situation with your teammate Greg.”

Immediately Kalmin’s smile dropped and he shot a look at Nikola. The boy frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“He was being a douche as per usual,” he shrugged.

“It was nothing serious, babe,” Mira added on, biting her tongue as she said, “babe.” Nikola’s eyes shot up and she smiled awkwardly.

The nickname flew past Kalmin’s head.

“Nikola’s right, Greg is the biggest dick on the team, please don’t take whatever he said to you to heart,” he urged.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Mira rubbed his arm. “I’m just happy you’re here and hopefully not running late for your exam?”

Kalmin blinked and checked his phone. He flashed another goofy grin and nodded.

“I’m right on time. I’ll get going now, though. Thank you for the coffee, love,” Kalmin chirped, kissing her forehead one last time before jumping down the steps (which was insanely dangerous in winter) and trudging through the snow. Mira waved a goodbye and was stuck with Nikola again. She glanced at him awkwardly.

“You have an exam, too?” She questioned.

He nodded and pulled up his hood. “Calculus,” he mumbled.

Mira cringed. “That sounds like hell,” she hissed. She paused for a moment and looked down at her cup. Then she was smiling again. “Hey, as a thanks and good luck, you want my coffee? I haven’t drank out of it yet.”

Nikola actually blushed.

“W-What?” He stuttered.

Mira grinned and passed the cup to him. “I hope you like lots of whip cream and caramel.”

He blinked rapidly. “I-I don’t need this.”

“Thank you and good luck,” Mira chirped, letting the coffee plop into his hands. He looked like a fish out of water. Cute. Really cute. She couldn’t help but wink at him before spinning around and carefully stepping down the steps, leaving the younger man dumbfounded and confused.

She knew what she was doing, and did it anyway. She had a soft spot for overly hostile boys with hearts of gold.

Mira was smirking when she came home. Deimos was in a towel getting ready for his next exam in the evening, frowning at her big smile.

“What?” He questioned.

Mira dropped her coat onto the couch and looked up at him.

“Do you have any other siblings other than Juno?” She questioned.

Deimos made a face. “No, not that I’m aware of.”

Mira laughed. “Ok,” she hummed, sliding her hands up his neck. They were cold. Wait, wasn’t she getting coffee?

“Why are you asking?” Deimos questioned back as she played with his wet hair.

She shrugged. “Just because.”