Mira had just finished cleaning her brushes in the sink when Deimos came home. She popped out of the washroom and padded through the halls to the entrance place, listening to the soft murmur and shuffling. Surprisingly, Kalmin was with them, tall and handsome, smiling at a stupid pun Deimos made. He had dimples and that was kind of adorable. Deimos locked eyes with Mira and both of them grinned at each other. It’s been a few coffee shop dates later since they joked about both being incredibly attracted to this hockey-playing barista, and both established a sort of look when Kalmin did something cute. Exhibit A: being in their house.

Raven kicked off her flip flops first and gave Mira a thumbs up.

“Kalmin can cook,” she whispered excitedly. “Where’s Renee?”

It was nice to know Raven agreed with her. “Organizing groceries with Annie,” Mira replied. Suddenly arms were around her waist and Deimos kissed the top of her head.

“Hey,” he greeted with a pink iced tea.

Mira took it from him and greeted back softly. Kalmin followed Deimos in, his eyes darting from one spot to the next. Mira couldn’t really blame him, their house was a house of artists and that brought a lot of…creativity. Patterned blankets, paintings and drawings were pinned to the walls. Gems and rocks were crammed in every corner imaginable. Handmade pillows and blankets piled up on couches and chairs. Movies and books were stacked high on shelves. And on every table was a work in progress, be it a new knitted scarf, a painting, a notebook for new stories, or a new craft project.

“I know, our house is a hot mess,” Mira laughed as they walked into the living room. All three of them flopped onto the couch covered in blankets and pillows. Kalmin sat beside her and he smelled like coffee.

“No, it’s kind of cool. To be honest, it’s pretty clean to what I’m used to,” he laughed, rubbing his neck.

“Frat houses?” Deimos joked. Kalmin glanced over at him and elbowed him playfully. They snickered at each other.

“Well, you’re not wrong.” He shrugged. “Hockey players are disgusting. The moment my exams were done, I moved back with my parents.”

“Pft, what are parents,” Mira muttered softly. Deimos smirked. “So, what’s the grossest thing you’ve witnessed over at your little hockey house?”

Kalmin sighed and settled in. “Let’s make this completely clear, hockey players are disgusting,” he began. “I’ve seen a decent amount of trash piles and puke, but the most disgusting thing ever is the stench of a player’s gear after a game rotting in a corner.”

“Gross!” Mira crinkled her nose.

“And multiply that by twenty,” Kalmin finished. Mira and Deimos physically recoiled and gagged. Kalmin laughed at them, his smile bright and sparkly. “I’ll deal with my parents, at least they can clean up after themselves.”

“Dude, if you ever need a place to get away, hit me up,” Mira said seriously.

“I might actually take you up on that offer.” He bit his lip.

“And do!” Mira patted his arm. (He was ripped)

“They leave their house unlocked all the time, you seriously can come over anytime you want,” Deimos added. Kalmin laughed again, and Mira and Deimos exchanged looks. Truthfully, Mira was actually surprised how friendly and outgoing Deimos was being. It was nice.

“Hey ladies,” Raven suddenly interrupted. She sat on the armrest near Deimos.

Deimos made a face. “There’s only one lady here.”

Raven didn’t even skip a beat. “Hey ladies,” she repeated bluntly. “So how are you feeling about burgers and fries for tonight?”

“Sure,” Mira replied. Deimos and Kalmin nodded.

“Do you need any help?” Kalmin offered.

“What a gentleman,” Mira commented.

“No, Renee, Annie and I have it under control.” Raven paused and then grinned brightly. “But, I was thinking about making cookies tonight?”

“Just call me and I’ll be there,” Kalmin chuckled.

“What a gentleman,” Mira emphasized.

“I feel attacked,” Deimos muttered.

Kalmin giggled.

After Raven went back to cooking in the kitchen, Mira and Deimos took turns getting to know Kalmin. Apparently he was a year ahead of them and majored in Human Kinetics. Also apparently he lived pretty close, a ten-minute-walk-kind of close. Mira and Kalmin ended up chatting about high school and Deimos wandered into the kitchen to help the others. Eventually it got too loud to chat peacefully with Raven’s choice of loud music blasting as she cooked, so instead Mira showed Kalmin around the house. He marveled at the many homemade decorations on the walls and the passive aggressive sticky notes Annie likes to tack on anywhere available. They made it to Mira’s room and he took his time looking around the various artworks she’s accumulated throughout the year. Her room was decently clean today (thank god), with only a few books towering on her desk and blankets unmade on her bed. There was the obvious disaster zone in one corner of her room consisting of paintings and drawings in progress, and Kalmin politely tip toed around them to look. Thankfully it was pretty safe for work- just a few still life paintings and portrait sketches of Rika and Micheal.

“You’re so talented,” Kalmin muttered. Mira laughed and shrugged.

“I’m not the best with realism.”

“I’d disagree.” He shook his head and gestured to them as if that was the answer. Mira smiled shyly. “To be honest, the athletic kids, or at least my team, thought you Visual Art students only came to university for fun, not for anything serious. But... I can’t agree with them now.”

Mira tipped her head to the side. “Well, the Visual Arts kids are the smallest department at the campus, so I’m not surprised.” Kalmin looked down nervously as if he had offended her. Mira chuckled and hip bumped him. “And hey, the athletic kids are kind of notorious for being the craziest partiers.”

“Accurate,” he commented. “Well, for the exception of me.”

“Don’t like parties?”

He shook his head. “Not really. Everything…gets out of hand and I always end up taking care of my teammates instead of having fun.”

“I don’t mind parties that much, but I can sympathize,” Mira murmured. “What do you enjoy more? Movie night? Game night?”

Kalmin bit his lip and smiled. “Game night,” he said coyly. “Not the sports, but video games.”

“Deimos and you will get along well,” Mira laughed. “We started playing Abzu. Well, he did, I just watch and cry about the game design.”

He smiled brightly. “You guys got Abzu? I just bought it recently.” For the first time, Mira saw him genuinely excited. His smile was addicting and it just made hers even wider. “Have you played Journey?”

She shook her head. “Not yet for me. Deimos has already and he’s planning to go buy another controller for me because the game is co-op.”

“Hey, if you want, you can borrow mine. I’ve got three decent controllers,” he suggested happily.

“That’d be amazing,” Mira laughed. “Thanks, dude.”

They snickered. The night seemed to go smoother after that.

Kalmin was a sweet dude. He was so positive and polite and pretty to look at. Positive, polite and pretty, he was the Ultimate Triple P of Perfection. He was easy to talk to and gentle with whatever Mira gave him. Her artworks, her books, her CDs, he took them as if they were made of glass. Conversation flowed smoothly and seamlessly, the time slipping past them as Mira chatted happily about her dumb high school photos, and Kalmin showing his on Facebook, which prompted them to send and accept friend requests of each other. Deimos came in to notify that the food was almost ready and when Mira turned back around, Kalmin had poked around to her little shelf shoved in the corner littered with anime movies, shows and merchandise. When she was younger, it would have been flaunted everywhere, but after she moved into her new home, she forgot about “flaunting” her expensive goods.

“You like anime?” Kalmin asked, shocked.

Mira’s cheeks burned. “M-Maybe,” she stuttered. Did she fuck up? Was this the end?

Kalmin burst out laughing. “That’s awesome,” he snickered. Mira’s jitters were washed away with the warmth of this stupid hockey-playing barista’s smile.

She found herself smiling once again. “Anime’s trash.”

Kalmin bit his lip. “Anime is definitely trash.”