Deimos and Kalmin were two boys out of a fairy tale. Deimos, with his sarcastic attitude, wicked looks and dangerous stares. Kalmin, with his gentle demeanor, golden complexion and warm eyes. They were two polar opposites. Deimos in his black tank, ripped jeans and converse. Kalmin in his patterned shirt, purple shorts and flip flops. Yet, in the shot, the two of them staring at each other, smiling, mid-laugh, in front of a shower of pink, purple and white flowers that seemed to blossom around them from the warmth of their sheer grins- they both seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces. They looked beautiful. They looked in love.

And somehow, Mira was ok with that hidden narrative.

It might be intimacy that Deimos needed. Another friend. A friend like how Raven was to her. A friend he could confide with. There were things that the two of them were never going to understand about each other. Take boners for example. Or toxic masculinity. Both instances Mira wouldn’t be able to fully comprehend.

“It’s us,” Deimos said bluntly.

“It is,” Kalmin replied bluntly.

Deimos wrapped his arm around Mira, resting his chin while the film developed. Kalmin once again joined her right side.

“Pretty shot,” Kalmin complimented softly.

“Thanks, I’ve got pretty subjects.”

Kalmin sputtered again. The dork couldn’t take compliments and Deimos absolutely loved seeing him internally combust.

There was this certain look Deimos gave Mira, and vice versa when Kalmin was acting cute. They couldn’t help it, they appreciated Kalmin’s physique. That’s the thing about dating someone who liked multiple genders, the things they appreciated overlapped a lot. Like Kalmin. He was hot. And Deimos appreciated it in the same way Mira did.

After several more photos through the hanging flower dome, because the two long boys kept looking so damn fine amidst flowers, the trio filed out and bumped into Sophie and Rika who had acquired a huge amount of flower crowns. Immediately, they placed a crown of roses onto Kalmin’s head and peonies on Deimos’. Mira was blessed with dahlias and nose kisses from Sophie and Rika.

“They sold flower crowns at the gift shop!” Rika said excitedly.

“How many did you buy?!” Mira laughed as the couple made their way through the growth to their next victims.

“Lots! We got them half off!” Sophie called back. They were probably going to crown the whole group with that large amount. Mira giggled and watched them go, hearing a shout and Gabriel’s voice call out, “Holy SHIT, ARE THOSE FLOWER CROWNS!?”

When Mira turned around, Deimos had his phone out and snapped a picture of her. She bit her lip and smiled at him and his messy dark hair adorned with ruby-coloured petals. Kalmin poked at his curiously.

“These are fake, right?” He pondered out loud.

“I think so.” Mira felt the vines and they were definitely plastic. “Souvenir.”

“Souvenir,” he repeated with a chuckle. His eyes lit up. “Hey, let’s get a picture! All of us in our flower crowns.”

“With the polaroid camera?”

“Of course. I can take it since I’m the tallest,” he said happily.

Deimos glared at him. “No you’re not, I’m the tallest.”

Kalmin looked at him weird. “Nope, I’m taller.”

“Do you wanna fight?”

“These are solid facts.”

“Mira, who’s taller?” Deimos said hastily. Both of them stood back-to-back, postures straight as a ruler. Mira blinked and hummed, amused by their competitive nature.

“By like a centimeter, Kalmin’s taller,” Mira notified.

“Ha, suck it, scrub,” Kalmin sneered.

Hotly, Deimos shot daggers with his malicious stare. Mira gave the winner her prized camera and all three of them crammed blindly into the shot, Mira making Deimos smile with one little chin kiss. The photo of them was perfect, all three of them equally in frame in their beautiful, bountiful flower crowns. To make it even, Deimos was able to take a shot with the camera and Mira also, with the help of the two tallest idiots bending down for her.

The trip to the greenery was immortalized in those photos.

After bidding farewell to the owner and taking many selfies with the flower crowns, they set off onto the road once again. Kalmin fulfilled his promise sitting in the front and played jazz and R&B. The two boys in the front took off their flower crowns to roll down the windows and let fresh air in. Mira and Raven kicked off their sandals and flip flops to drape across the cushions again, their legs tangling together. Raven passed out on Mira’s chest, the girl petting her soft hair gently as Kalmin’s music played softly.

“You tamed her well,” Deimos commented. Mira looked up at the rear view mirror to see his beautiful olive eyes.

Mira smiled. “I guess I did.”

“So quickly too,” Kalmin added, peering over the seats.

“She’s been more excitable than usual,” she murmured. “Happier.”

“That’s good,” Kalmin hummed.

“How’s Aaron and Gabriel?” Mira asked softly.

“The same. More lip biting and gross ‘do me’ stares.”

Deimos chuckled. “Sounds like Gabriel.”

“Nice to know they’re getting along,” Mira said. They all hummed in mutual agreement and went silent for a moment, the sound of whipping wind and the hum of the truck filling the crowded vehicle. Mira spoke up.

“Would you rather live among the stars or among the seas,” she said. Kalmin clicked his phone off and rested his head against the headrest. He hummed.

“Stars,” he replied.

“Ditto,” Deimos said.

“Same,” Mira laughed.

“Are we playing Would You Rather?” Deimos said a little bit too dramatically.

“No, I’m just trying to think of things to pass the time.”

“It’ll get exciting in an hour or so.”

“Border security?” Kalmin chirped.

“Border security,” Deimos groaned. “You guys better be well prepared.”

“None of us are white, we’re all doomed,” Mira realized.

Deimos and Kalmin burst out laughing. Both of them had cute laughs. Deimos has had his fair share of boisterous laughter that left tears in his eyes, but it always felt new with Mira. He was a man full of stares and soft smiles. To make him laugh hard was a feat. On the other hand Kalmin was all mysteries, a quiet boy with a past Mira didn’t know about, but one she wanted to explore. There was something behind that calm veil. And from the dark racial joke, he did have a similar taste of humor which was good. Kalmin’s laugh was refreshing. Didn’t help he had a dimpled smile. Deimos’ laugh was the rumble of an engine, Kalmin’s laugh was the gentle whip of a cold breeze. Both brought a warmth in her. The conversation after that seemed to flow well. Deimos was not much of a talker, so most conversations with him was one-sided, yet with the inclusion of Kalmin, the conversation seemed so much more balanced. He was a little shy at first, but he kept the conversation flowing. They chatted about stupid things, like how pine forests were not a thing in Greece and trips abroad. Kalmin talked about his first trip to Korea and how he stuck out like a sore thumb with his long body. Mira talked about her first trip to the Philippines and how an officer immediately knew she was a foreigner, despite being Filipino, because of how short her shorts were. Deimos joked about his first visit in Canada when he was fifteen, and how devastated he was to learn he couldn’t drink at parties.

“You’ve almost got no accent though, do you have any English-speaking relatives?” Kalmin complimented.

Deimos shrugged. “I learned English at a young age. My grandmother was from England though.”

“Ooh, can you speak British?” Mira piped up.

He cleared his throat. “Ayo, fetch me some tea and crumpets- pft- nope, I can’t,” he stammered and was thrown into a fit of laughter. Kalmin covered his mouth and snickered beside him.

“That was terrible!” Mira giggled.

“Hey, can you do any better?”

“Nope,” she said immediately.

“God, I pity commoners like you,” Kalmin said, in a beautifully, thick British accent. He sounded like royalty. Even his posture and demeanour changed from hockey-playing barista to King of England. “You’ll never understand the wonders of driving on the opposite side of the road and pudding.”

“Holy shit,” Deimos blurted out between chuckles.

“Kalmin won,” Mira piped up. Raven fidgeted on top of her and lazily grabbed for her headphones. They locked eyes, Raven a little cranky until she passed out again listening to piano music on her phone. Mira snickered at her and rubbed her back.

“Any other secret talents you’d like to share?” Deimos questioned sarcastically.

“Are you good at many accents?” Mira added on.

Kalmin hummed and shrugged. “Not sure. Test me.”

“Russian!” Mira called in the back.

Kalmin smirked. “In Soviet Russia, you don’t shoot for the stars, the stars shoot for you,” he said eloquently.

“Scottish,” Deimos suggested.

“They will never take our freedom!” Kalmin enacted. “Also, get out of my swamp!”

Mira burst out laughing. “You’re a fucking meme.”

“I can do Kermit the frog,” Kalmin said, already doing the voice.

Deimos snickered. “Valley girl?”

“That’s like, super easy, oh my god,” Kalmin said, even doing the little hand flick.

“Korean?” Mira shot out.

“Aiya, Kalmin, how are you still single? Your mom worries about you, bring home a beautiful girl!” Kalmin said in a heartbeat. He even said a slew of Korean phrases Mira didn’t know for the life of her.

“Moms, I love them, but always meddling with your love life,” Mira laughed. The one accent or impression she knew how to do wonderfully was her mom’s. “Jesus, Mira, always coming home with no one. Wear more makeup, then the bitches will come to you.”

Kalmin and Deimos laughed at her pronunciation of “bitch.” It was a mix of “peach” and “beach.”

“Oh, my dear Deimos, just because we named you after the god of terror doesn’t mean you should literally scare away the ladies, we named you to be an oxymoron!” Deimos said with a thick, Greek accent. He also added on a bunch of Greek phrases Mira has heard before but still didn’t know for the life of her.

“Mira means female ruler, peace, and ocean,” Mira piped up.

“You’re the furthest away from a peaceful ocean,” Deimos commented.

“Shove it, scrub,” she hissed. “What does your name mean, Kalmin?”

“Manly and strong,” he said.

Mira laughed. “You’re a soft, sweet boy.”

He chuckled. “Thanks, I assume that’s a compliment?”

“Hell yeah, dude.”

“And strong?” He questioned.

“Don’t know if you’re strong yet,” Deimos pointed out.

“What?” Kalmin laughed. “Don’t believe in my name?”

“We’ll have to test that out.”

“Try me,” Kalmin sneered. “You haven’t seen me on skates.”

“Very true,” Mira pondered out loud.

Deimos chuffed. “You’ll have to stick to volleyball and swimming.”

“You’re on,” Kalmin sneered. Deimos sneered back, shooting him a playful look.

“Hey Kalmin, you wanna know something tragic?” Mira called.

He glanced over to her. “What’s up?”

“I can’t skate for shit,” she confessed with a contradicting wide smile. It only got wider when Kalmin’s jaw dropped.

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah,” she laughed. “I can’t skate for the life of me.”

“What do you mean!? Skating is easy!” He was so heated. Deimos was chuckling beside him.

“In being on a rink for ten minutes, I wiped out three times,” she said. “Raven and Annie have visual evidence that I suck.”

“Impossible, I don’t believe it,” Kalmin chuffed. “When we get back home we’re going straight to an ice rink.”

“What? No!” Mira whined. “It’s summer!”

“There’s all season rinks somewhere, and we’re going to find it and I’m going to teach you how to skate,” he said in one breath.

She slapped her hand over her face and whined. She was intentionally just going to tease him for a bit, but she didn’t expect him to actually think about teaching her how to skate.

“You set yourself up for this, Mira,” Deimos commented.

“Can you skate, Deimos?” Kalmin said quickly.

“Of course,” he deadpanned.

“Oh my god, are you serious?” Kalmin immediately saw through his lie. “You guys were so perfect.”

“Everyone has their flaws,” Mira tried to pick up the pieces. She couldn’t stop giggling and smiling though. Kalmin was being overdramatic, and it was fucking hilarious.

“I can understand Deimos not being able to skate, but Mira, you’re Canadian. Didn’t your family bring you out onto the ice when you were little? Didn’t you go downtown and play on the outdoor rinks and then warm up by a fire with hot chocolate? Did your parents deprive you of the true Canadian dream?”

“Dude, my parents are immigrants! They’re right on the equator!” She rebutted.

Kalmin threw his hands up into the air. “I can’t believe this. We need to get on a rink ASAP, you haven’t known true joy yet.”

“Oh my fucking god,” Deimos chuckled. “You’re such a dork.”

Kalmin gave him the nastiest stare. “You’ve got ancient Greek architecture that keeps you connected with your past history, we’ve got the ancient tradition of hockey!”

Deimos looked into the rear view mirror and straight at Mira. Both of them were thinking the same thing.

“He’s precious.”

“If intense cuddles is a requirement to be your guys’ best friend, so be it. But my requirement is just one day on the rink in the winter with a warm campfire and hot chocolate.” Kalmin set down an ultimatum. Mira and Deimos exchanged looks again.

“Fine,” Deimos said calmly.

“Sure.” Mira shrugged. “I’m going to cuddle the shit out of you now, I hope you know that.”

“So be it,” Kalmin shot back. “I’ll cuddle you and Deimos.”

“Oh, god.” Deimos shook his head.

“Fight me!” Mira barked.

“I will!” Kalmin laughed.

“You guys are insane,” Deimos whined.