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I was getting up earlier this term in an attempt to realign my routines to fit in with my girlfriend. That word still sent funny little shivers up my back, pleasant ones. Last semester, my morning routine consisted of waking up at 5, getting dressed in athletic clothes, using the housepet passages to go to the private gym under the dorm rooms, completing an hour-long workout, returning to my room, and getting dressed for school before 6:30, when I would eat breakfast in the comfort of my dorm.
Now I was rising a bit earlier, just before 4 am, to complete my routine with enough time to spare before Mary would wake up. After I was dressed for school, I would grab my coffee from the council room and once again disappear into the housepet hallways. This time, I was heading for Mary’s room; she would still be asleep when I got there, not usually waking up until 6 am each morning. When we had started this routine, during the holidays at one of the Timurov dachas, we had become comfortable and relaxed enough to return to bed after breakfast to enjoy our coffee and watch out my window each morning.
It had become a routine for me. Mary had picked up early in our relationship just how important routines were for me. Just how religiously I stuck to my routines each day. Probably noticed my quirk before we even dated, noticed when she had joined student council the first time.
Returning to school after starting that routine was hard for both of us. But within the first week, I had crumpled, and after getting dressed for the day, I found myself standing outside of Mary’s door. Since then, we have created this new routine.
Entering Mary’s room without knocking, I waved a quick hello to Yumeko as I passed her to reach Mary’s bed and placed a hot coffee on her bedside table. Before lifting the sheets, I quickly removed my shoes and council blazer, and climbed into the bed behind Mary. Immediately, Mary snuggled in closer to me.
I'd learned that Mary was the type of person who couldn’t get out of bed without her morning coffee, a trait she shared with my sister. After a few days of watching Mary struggle to make herself a coffee inside her dorm, I had given up and started turning on her coffee machine when I entered the room.
A few weeks after that, I had grown tired of even that, noticing that the cheap coffee maker produced such low-quality coffee that it didn’t help Mary’s mood until she naturally woke up at around 10:00am every day. These days, I place Mary’s coffee order as my own with Kira’s order to her personal barista on campus.
Shortly after I had gotten into bed, I felt Mary begin to stir, rolling over and tucking her head further under the covers and into my chest. We lay like that for a while, Mary still asleep and me just waiting and enjoying the feel of being close to someone.
“Ugh, your school uniform shirt is so stiff.” Mary’s words are mumbled from sleep and muffled by said shirt as she attempts to bury her head further into my chest.
“I bought you coffee”, I responded quietly, and Mary reluctantly stopped her attempt at hiding away from the morning light.
“The yummy one, with the vanilla?” Mary was clear about her dislike of coffee, constantly adding this coffee creamer and that syrup to her drinks every morning. Kira’s barista was fully stocked with syrups despite Kira’s argument that they were unnecessary; I was grateful for that each morning.
“Yes,” I responded softly, before rolling the two of us slightly so I was slightly seated against the bed head. Reaching to grab the cup of coffee, I fanned it under Mary’s nose until her hands started responding to her brain, and she grabbed it. Taking a sip, Mary sighed in satisfaction, giving me a kiss in thanks.
Eyes still closed, Mary brought the cup to her lips again and drained it in one gulp. As the caffeine from the coffee started to work, I watched her eyelids flutter until they could open on their own.
After Mary had woken up for the morning, I remained sitting on her bed while she got ready. After Yumeko left for the council breakfast each morning, Mary and I stayed in her room, and I had one of the council house pets deliver us breakfast.
When it was time, Mary and I would head off through the housepet corridors to the student council office for the morning meeting.
Entering the council chamber just prior to the meeting, I saw Kira’s scowl. Mary and I parted ways as we moved to our assigned positions. Mary moved to her seat on the right side of the table, next to Yumeko. It was the only position at the table I couldn’t always see from my place next to Kira at the head of the table.
Just before Kira took her place at the head of the table, I saw Mary grab for a cup I hadn’t noticed before. A very large cold coffee cup with a large green logo and the words Starbucks. I guessed Mary was using her newest house-pet and council member privileges to order off-campus drinks now.
The morning meeting continued normally, Kira led discussions about galas, funding, budgets, and any interesting changes to the leaderboard. Just before Kira would have normally begun reviewing formal student requests, she turned to Mary with a scathing look on her face.
“God, Mary. Is it even possible for you to have a more piteous excuse for coffee? Does that ridiculously unsightly cup even have coffee in it?” Kira’s voice was sharp and cutting as it echoed across the council table. I saw one of the newer members of the council flinch out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t see Mary’s reaction past Kira’s body, but I heard the soft giggles coming from her. Saw the tightening on Kira’s shoulders that warned of more, curt, cutting words.
Clearly, Mary was not scared of Kira, but every other council member's faces paled when Mary picked up and took another loud, brash sip through the straw.
I watched the red creep up the back of my sister's neck and wondered vaguely if I would have to step in between the two of them once again to prevent a murder. Whose murder I wasn’t quite sure. I also couldn’t decide whose murder would upset me more.
“Why? Would you like to try a sip? I’ve got plenty left,” Mary’s sing-song voice echoed out of her, delaying Kira’s next sentence by a few milliseconds. Yumeko, the only one other than the arguing girls and me who was not frozen, cackled out loud, the force of which jerked her head up and shook her body.
Mary held her cup out to Kira and swayed it side to side.
“Honestly, I don’t know why I even bother. It's as if you try your hardest to be garishly vulgar just to make this council look bad, flaunting that offensively cheap plastic cup filled with that seriously offensive froufrou drink you pretend is coffee. Why don’t you just go all out? Somehow find a more froufrou drink to flaunt around campus?” Kira’s tirade accomplished one thing: scaring the newest members of the council; however, it seemed that Mary wasn’t scared of Kira anymore. Or she was, I guess, just didn’t care about the consequences anymore.
The next morning, we arrived at the council offices a few minutes earlier than normal, Mary rushing us out the door with a surprising amount of energy for my ‘fuck mornings’ girlfriend. When we got there, Mary was practically skipping. I realised the reason for her excitement, there was a new drink waiting for Mary on the table. Still in a large plastic Starbucks cup. This time, brown on the bottom, coffee most likely, but with an unsettlingly pink milky foam on top.
I looked at Mary, catching her eye before I tilted my head slightly, silently questioning her.
“It’s a raspberry cream cold brew from Starbucks.” She said with a mischievous grin, before prancing over to her seat, leaving me to make my way to my position behind an already scowling Kira.
Surprisingly, Kira managed to keep her annoyance at Mary contained for the meeting. Almost at least.
In the last few minutes of the meeting, while we were wrapping up the last of the formal requests from students, I heard Mary’s cup, which she had barely touched so far, lift off the table with a loud squelch and a deafening rattle from the ice inside. Kira’s shoulders tensed slightly, not too noticeably but enough.
With a loud slurp and more clinking sounds made by the ice, I came to the realisation that Mary was obnoxiously draining her large coffee in one go.
“Dismissed” My sister's voice was filled with annoyance, but it wasn’t until she stepped backwards and left the council room with Yumeko that I saw Mary’s shit eating grin and the practically empty coffee cup.
Mary’s grin only got bigger when we heard the tell-tale bang of Kira slamming the hallway door on her way out.
“Hole-y Fuck!” Dori muttered, staring at Mary in disbelief. “You seriously have a death wish, Mary!”
Runa’s Laugh was high with disbelief and shock.
Mary’s voice was strong and sarcastic as she responded, “What’s Kira going to do? Make me a house-pet? Been there, done that, still got the tag.”
With that, Mary picked up what was left in her cup, grabbed my hand, and dragged me towards the hallway leading to my room. As we closed the door, I heard a phone ping, and Suki’s voice followed us down the hallway.
“Saint Doms, I've got a surprise for you. You'll never guess what went down in the council meeting just then- “
His voice was cut off by my bedroom door being firmly closed by Mary. I worried for a second if Kira was okay with Suki sharing this with social media, but all thoughts left my mind when Mary swung me around and pinned me against the door.
“I know you like raspberry”, she murmured. I’d never tried raspberry flavouring before, so I was confused. It wasn’t until I felt her fingers slip under the straps of my mask that understanding dawned.
She pulled off my mask, and our lips crashed together.
I did like raspberry, I decided, especially from Mary’s lips. Breaking away for a second, I checked the time and deduced that since the meeting had ended early, we would have enough time.
Unfortunately, I had miscalculated how much time our little side adventure would take, and both of us were late to class.
The next morning, we arrived at the meeting slightly early once again. And just like the previous day, there was a new drink at Mary’s seat, a plastic cup still proudly exclaiming it was from Starbucks. This time it was a dark brown blended drink with what looked to be chocolate pieces through it, topped with whipped cream and a brown drizzle, surely chocolate sauce.
Kira was calmer during the meeting, calculating. The calm before the storm. I tried to warn Mary last night that Kira would get her revenge, but she didn’t care. What's worse, she seemed to be weirdly enjoying it. Seeing the calm façade on Kira’s face, I decided today was a day to sit in my actual seat at the table and attempt to keep the peace between my sister and my girlfriend.
The storm hit only partway through the meeting, and we had only just cleared their first agenda item. Mary lifted her cup, not even bothering to lift it from the glass, tilting it onto its edge and leaning her head forward to meet the straw. In that moment, I knew that my girlfriend and my sister were too similar in personality. The look in Mary’s eyes was akin to the look in Yumeko’s when she was on the precipice of a gamble. I could see the layers of rings Mary had left from the condensation of her cup.
Suddenly, Kira’s hand struck out as she grabbed Mary’s drink, turned on her heels and deposited it into the trash can beside the table.
“I was drinking that!” Mary’s tone cut across the room, cutting off the housepet who had been reading the latest student requests.
“And now you're not”, Kira’s reply came crisp, clean, and controlled. While her voice and face gave away none of the wild smugness Kira felt, I could see it floating behind her eyes. The small smile that told me she found this hilarious teased at the corner of Kira’s lips, noticeable only to me.
Mary’s sudden giggle surprised me a little. As did her slightly smug smile that stayed on her face through the rest of the meeting. Although I was starting to think that taking Mary’s coffee away from her was actually a punishment directed at me. Kira knew how snappy and annoyed Mary would get when she didn’t have enough caffeine. There was no way the coffee I’d given Mary this morning would be enough.
Knowing just how irritable Mary got when she hadn’t had enough coffee, I was sure that whatever had caused the smug smile on Mary’s lips would fade away before the end of the meeting. Surely her bad mood would be in full effect by the first lesson.
However, as the meeting continued, Mary’s grin just got bigger, and I noticed her sneak glances at Yumeko regularly. Each glance made her smile bigger and bigger. Watching that made my stomach sink, almost feeling like the butterflies that had taken up permanent residence since I started dating Mary had started eating from the inside out. I couldn’t quite name the emotion, or explain it at all, for what it's worth, the Timurov household does not accept emotions other than anger and satisfaction of winning.
Yumeko, on the other hand, had that look in her eye. The one where a bet didn’t go the way she had expected. The look she gets when she has lost, but she's somehow more excited by it. I couldn’t figure out what exactly Yumiko was up to or why she felt like that in a meeting.
It wasn’t until Kira declared the official end of the meeting that I understood.
“… and Suki will be organising the advertising and PR for the fall fundraising Gamble. Dismissed everyone, I expect to see that you have all completed your tasks before tomorrow’s meeting at 8:00 am Sharp.” Kira’s voice was melodic but catching as she ended the meeting, her smile slightly wavering, noticing the glances passing between Yumeko and Mary.
Seconds after Kira finished speaking, Mary turned her whole body to Yumeko’s and held out her hand, making a come-hither gesture.
“Pay up, Yumeko!” Mary’s voice was clearly delighted as she waited for her bet. Yumeko giggled in delight at losing a bet and pulled out her phone, tapping the screen before showing it to Mary.
“The driver delivered it 2 minutes ago. A house-pet will get here soon with your drink.” Yumeko spoke in her usual lilt, partway between being erotically flirty and happy-go-lucky. Almost as if called on by divine intervention, a house pet entered with a somehow even larger plastic cup, green logo, and all. Although this time the logo was almost hidden, blending in with the bright green of the drink. My eyes lit up seeing the top of the drink. It was a pink milky foam; hopefully, it was the raspberry foam. I quite enjoyed my taste of it the morning before.
Unfortunately, this morning the meeting had run slightly long, and Mary and I only had time for a quick chat on the way to our morning classes. During our mostly silent chat, I learned that the foam was strawberry, not raspberry, like the previous day, and the drink was a strawberry Matcha strato Frappuccino from Starbucks. Mary had made a side bet with Yumeko that Mary could make Kira crack in before they were halfway into the meeting. Mary had won $15000.
Surprisingly, I think the slight change in the rankings, Mary solidifying her position in the council and moving into the 8th position, made Kira feel slightly calmer.
--
Mary found me at lunch time, catching my hand before I entered the cafeteria and dragging me in the opposite direction. Walking me down a familiar hallway, I got the idea and stepped backwards, pulling her gently sideways into the housepet hallway, through an entryway I doubted she had discovered yet. Closing the entryway behind her, I pinned her to the doorway, one of her hands instinctively reaching for my face, entwining with the strap of my mask. I leaned in, but stopped abruptly, feeling an icy chill against my left breast. Taking a small step back, I glanced down to see the green cup still almost half full in Mary’s hand.
Mary noticed where my attention had gone, and a mischievous smile took hold of her lips.
“Wanna try some? I think you’ll like the strawberry” Her tone was low and oh so tempting, her hand on my cheek making her even more irresistible as she removed my mask with practised ease. My breath hitched. With the hand still holding the cup, she popped the domed lid open and, using the index finger on the other hand, swooped up some of the pinkish foam.
“Is it better like this- “Mary murmured, bringing her finger to my face, and swiping some of the cool foam across my lips. My tongue slipped out of between my lips, hesitantly tasting the strawberry delight.
“Or like this?” Mary’s murmured voice stole my attention from the delicious flavour as she sucked her fingertip into her mouth and pulled it out. I found myself once again unable to answer, unable to move or breathe. Then, with a gentleness I loved, she guided my head down to hers, and I had to admit that it tasted much better on her lips than it ever had on mine.
Later, that afternoon, while we were quietly studying together, Mary argued that the strawberry flavour tasted much better on my lips than her own. It was an argument that neither of us would ever win. It just led to more kissing, to test the theory I had reasoned to a still argumentative Mary.
The next morning, Mary and I arrived at the council meeting to find yet another Starbucks drink sitting at her seat. This time it was an almost neon blue, rivalling Kira’s lipstick, with little red balls at the bottom. I supposed that they might be pomegranate, but the balls were too large and much too perfectly spherical.
During the meeting, it seemed that despite all of Mary’s attempts, she couldn’t get a rise out of Kira. My nerves stood on edge, screaming their suspicions. Kira was only this controlled and neutral when she had a rock-solid plan. I knew something was happening, but I couldn’t figure out what. The meeting seemed to be moving quickly this morning, and I couldn’t figure out what was motivating Kira. Usually, she only worked this quickly when she had a motive, a reason for it to be finished.
By the end of the meeting, I still hadn’t figured out what Kira’s motives were, and Mary was clearly disappointed that she hadn’t gotten a rise out of Kira yet. However, I couldn’t feel to upset; Kira’s speedy delivery of the meeting meant that we finished a full 10 minutes before the usual, affording Mary and me an extra 15 minutes before we had to leave for class. Watching Mary during that meeting, watching Mary any time, made me feel hot. But watching Mary with that expression, the perfected false innocence mixed with her brand of confidence and covered with a bright smile, never failed to bring me to the edge of my control.
Standing at the head of the table, I watched each council member leave the offices with a strong glare on my face. Glancing at my face, one of the lower-ranked council members jerked up out of his seat, quickly pacing out of the room. I would have felt sorry, but the faster they all left, the sooner I could sequester Mary inside my room.
Once everyone, bar Mary and Yumiko, left, I turned to my girlfriend, surprised to see her standing next to me already. She placed her hand in mine when I offered. I met her gaze and the look. In my eyes, I wiped the pouty expression off her face in a moment. I pulled her down the hallway to my room, not bothering to be gentle.
“You know,” Mary drawled from just behind me, “the popping pearls in this drink are raspberry.”
Comprehension dawned through my body, the red spheres in the drink were raspberry flavoured. My favourite flavour on Mary’s lips.
We were late to classes again, but I’d learned exactly what popping pearls were. And I'd relearned what heaven tasted like inside of Mary’s mouth. Entering my own morning lesson, it wasn’t long before I faded into the shadows and began to hear the whispers.
“I heard she did nothing this morning, didn’t even say a word!” a blond girl whispered to her friends.
“I heard that she’s given up already”, another responded to her in the same hushed tone.
“Of course, she has”, the third had a sarcastic tone and was completely failing in their attempt to lower their volume.
“I mean, look at the colour!” the first girl again, she had her phone out now, pointing it at her friends.
“I mean, she’s already been a house-pet and came back, she’s either in Kira’s back pocket or she's a force that doesn’t need to worry about the consequences. I'm going with the first option, considering she's with Riri.” Was the less hushed reply now, the friends growing too excited to try and hide their discussion.
“Oh, bullshit, Kira’s too much of a bitch to actually have allies, she’d stab them in the back, first chance she got” The third girl again, “anyways, you saw how much Mary hated Kira when she was a housepet.”
Riri tuned their discussion out, having gotten the information she needed. It had always been her job to gather information about students and the secret stories and conversations travelling through the school; her job as a shadow only made that easier.
On one hand, Riri was glad that they thought her girlfriend to be a ‘force’, at least now fewer people would challenge her. On the other hand, she knew that Kira wouldn’t take kindly to the idea that others thought she lacked control over Mary; it was already a known law that Kira had no control over Yumeko. Riri worried that the school would start believing she was losing control and lose respect for the student council. Tilting her head, she tuned into another conversation, the participants much louder than the previous ones.
“Dude, Kael messaged me that Mary didn’t even show up to her class this morning! Reckon it’s Kira’s revenge?” the boy, a typical-looking jock, said as he shouldered his friend.
“She’s probably been ‘disappeared’ by the council *cough* Riri *cough* my now. Did you see the colour of the drink? It was basically a fuck you,” his friend responded.
The first boy's reply made my blood boil, “Fuck I hope not! She’s hot, reckon I can get myself a ‘date’ if you know what I mean, especially if she drops from student council again.”
The boy obviously had a death wish.
A third student, a girl, sitting with them, having remained quiet until now, interjected, grabbing both boys by the shoulder.
“You are both idiots. This isn’t the first time Mary’s been late to her class this week. I bet if you message Kael, he’d say that Mary got to his class just before Riri did ours.” She made eye contact with the soon-to-be house pet. “Plus, you really shouldn’t talk about Mary like that, especially when she’s around.” the girl continued, using her pen to point at Riri on the word ‘she’.
I just continued looking at the presentation, pretending to take notes as if I couldn’t hear their discussion.
“What? Why would she care?” The soon-to-be house-pet replied, seeming to dig himself deeper into his grave.
“Dude! Are you an idiot? Monday, they were both late to class. Tuesday, they both disappeared at lunch and when Mary came to class after lunch, late might I add, her neck was marked up and her lips were swollen. They walk to classes together. They're dating!” the girl responded. Smart girl, I thought, tuning out the rest of the conversation, but made a mental note to track the boy down at a later date.
By lunch, it seemed that the whole school was divided between Mary being untouchable even by Kira and Mary’s lateness to class due to a punishment by Kira. Neither rumour was correct, but I could see the logical thought processes.
The next morning, Mary and I entered the council chambers holding hands. Feeling Mary deflate, I turned my head to look at her. Noticing her gaze on the table, I let out a short, huffed breath when I noticed that there was no coffee on the table. Unfortunately, this morning, there had been an incident requiring my skills and clean-up. It had taken longer than expected, and so, I hadn’t delivered Mary her coffee this morning.
The reason became clear during the staff meeting. During the previous staff meeting, the council had passed a new safety, access, and security rule to protect the campus from unsavoury people walking in. Kira had passed off the issue as a large potential problem. Knowing how many acts followed within the school were, unlawful to say the least, it had been a unanimous vote. Evidently, it had been a ruse, and instead, this morning, many of the council's Uber Eats orders were turned away at the gate. Including Mary’s Starbucks order.
The rest of the staff meeting became more and more unbearable, and the entire council learning what Mary was like without caffeine.
Runa was the first to go. After making a distracted comment about 86-ing someone. Mary mumbled something about Runa being a “Bitch ass dick who can’t even gamble.”
“How about you repeat that to my face?” Runa responded, interrupting the meeting.
Enough” Kira’s hands slammed down onto the council table making most of the council flinch including Mary. It didn’t, however, deter Mary one bit as she rolled her eyes.
“I’d be delighted to, your majesty. I said ‘you’re a bitch ass dick who couldn’t muster the courage to gamble or even settle your own scores. That’s why you need the beaver isn’t it?” Mary’s response was accompanied with an eyeroll at Kira’s attempt of control.
Suki was targeted soon after. He’d made a side comment about Kira always having the last laugh while eyeing the coffee-free space in front of Mary.
“Fucking hell. Have your nails even grown back yet? Or is it all fake stick-ons still? Are you still buying them from Temu, Alpha Sean?” Mary’s voice dripped with sarcasm, and somehow her tone was harsher than her words. Suki had flinched from the reminder of his nails and then flinched again and sank into his seat at the reminder of his alter ego. Suki didn’t speak for the rest of the meeting, didn't even glance at Mary’s way. I felt an odd sense of pride towards my girlfriend, not yet aware that it was only the beginning of her tirade. That the tirade would escalate so much.
Yumeko was targeted soon after. She’d been trying to smooth out Mary’s harsh energy, attempting to calm her down. It just made Mary’s mood worse. Mary slumped back with a harsh sigh, and when Yumeko tried again to brighten her spirits, she snapped.
“Oh, you can fuck off too, you know. Don’t even bother, you’re the one sleeping with the enemy, right? What? You're gonna tell me you're not one step ahead this time like you always are?” Mary’s words were a bitter murmur that only Yumeko, Kira and I could hear. I could see that the words struck a chord, even just slightly, but Yumeko’s love of the unknown won out over the hurt and minutes later, I could tell that she was holding in a laugh. Shortly after that, she pulled out her phone and tapped away for a few minutes. Pausing, seemingly in deliberation, before pressing a button. Yumeko put her phone face down on the table, a giggle slipping out in excitement. The giggle earned her a glare, and I deduced from the barely contained excitement on her face that she’d placed a bet.
Shortly after, I felt a buzz from my phone, the vibration pattern I recognised. It was the system alert for the side betting system. It usually only beeped when someone put in a hidden bet. The bets those outcomes would be swayed if the subject of said bet knew about it. All subjective bets like that had to be cleared by myself or Kira before they were released. Once they were released, students received a silent notification, and the sidebet app used facial recognition to ensure only the account holder saw the bet. A seamless way to ensure the subjects of said bet wouldn’t be influenced. Pulling out my phone I worked carefully to keep my face neutral after seeing the content of the bet and approving it.
The meeting ended after Mary’s borderline psychotic attention was brought to Dori. Dori had mentioned something, or looked at Mary weirdly, honestly, I wasn’t even sure what prompted Mary into her rage this time.
Mary’s eyes swung around to Dori, her tone even and hard “Dori, I know being psychotic is like your schtick, but do you really think you're needed on the council anymore? Yumeko’s taken over your position as the wildcard. She’s even managed to nail your psychotic-ness and perfect it into an art form. Somehow, drawing people into her games despite being known as the psychotic gambler, a wild card. The council's ultimate draw card, sent in to take somebody to pieces.” Mary had remained slouched in her chair, her eyes pinning Dori in place.
“Face it, Dori,” Mary stated, saccharine sweetness dripping from each word as a taunt. “You're redundant.” With those words, Mary stood leaning forward towards Dori, her hands on the table.
“Fucking fight me, I dare you.” Dori's response the only noise echoing across the room for a long moment.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure how it had happened, how I missed Mary’s next steps. Completely missed her intentions. Perhaps I had been distracted by the slight peek of delectable skin, and the perfect curve of my girlfriend's delectable behind.
However, the next thing I knew, Mary was across the side of the table near Dori, my switchblade suddenly in her hand as she threatened Dori with it. How the fuck she got my blade was beyond me. It lived tucked into the edge of my skirt, easy for me to reach but undetectable by sight.
A look from Kira had me moving into action before I could think. Grabbing my girlfriend around the waist with one hand, my other hand runs along Mary’s dominant arm, pulling it up. I'd been taught how to properly disarm a combatant when I was 7, and Kira and I had kept up our training on the orders of Father since then. But I knew my girlfriend better, knew how she responded to my touch. Knew that she responded to my voice so much more.
“Calm down, baby”, I spoke in a low, calm voice, only loud enough for Mary to hear me through the mask right next to her ear. Mary released her grasp on the knife, surrendering it to me. However, that wasn’t the end of her fight as she tried to pull away from me, leaning towards Dori.
“See! Can’t even fight your own fights, have to get the council to intervene for you.” Mary’s voice was harsh, and her actions were intended to hurt. Quickly, I carefully put the knife on the table and slid it in a predictable arc towards Kira, knowing she'd catch it before it fell. With my now weapon-free hand, I wrapped Mary up in a tight hug, leaning back enough to lift her feet off the ground.
“Meeting Adjourned. Everybody out!” Kira’s voice was clear and loud, managing to get her point across to everyone in the room, even over Mary’s continued shouts. The room emptied quickly. Feeling Mary’s anger diffusing, I put her feet down, and she spun around to face Kira.
“Fuck you and your little schemes! I'm out. I actually have to go to class, unlike some rich motherfuckers like you who've always paid their way through life.” Mary’s tone was scathing, but the content didn’t hit Kira the way she’d hoped. Turning, Mary stormed out of the council chambers, her footsteps echoing out behind her.
I turned towards Kira, needing my go-to weapon back before I left the council office. I might need it to deal with Thompson, the boy who, despite the warning from his friends, dared to flirt with Mary the previous day. The same boy, now a house pet, who had been warned about me yesterday morning. Sometimes weapons were needed to keep house pets like him in line.
“How did Mary know where you keep that?” Kira’s voice was low and tight as she handed my knife to me. My face flushed, the redness travelling from my cheeks down my neck and up to my ears. Kira made a questioning expression, followed by a noise in confusion upon seeing my blush. Yumeko’s tinkling laughter shocked both of us out of the moment.
“Mary uh, likes knives” Yumeko’s voice was high in amusement, and when the confused look on Kira’s face didn’t clear up, Yumeko clarified, bringing even more blood to the surface of my cheeks.
“As in like, likes them”, Yumeko said, more directly this time. Kira’s confusion still shone through her eyes.
“As in knives make her horny, Kira, especially when they're held in hands that clearly know how to use them” Yumeko’s sentence burst out of her, ending with a soft, uncontrollable giggle. Understanding and horror dawned across Kira’s face, and her eyes shot to me in disbelief.
After a moment, Kira’s stare pinned me to the spot, another look of comprehension crossed Kira's face, followed by something akin to anger, jealousy, maybe?
“And how, pray tell, would you know anything about that?” Kira swung around to Yumeko.
Taking the distraction as my opportunity to escape, I could hear Yumeko’s voice, defensive and high as she reasoned that Mary and she were friends, and they talked about stuff like that. Before the door swung shut behind me, I could hear the sounds of kissing, and I decided to use the housepet tunnels to hightail my way out of there.
By lunchtime, Mary’s attitude had just gotten worse. She’d already challenged 4 students to a gamble, sending 3 of them to housepet status and one of them to stand at the flagpole for 4 hours with a sign that read I lost like an idiot.
The warning reached my ears before I saw her. The hushed whispers started with one student running into the cafeteria, leaning into her friends to warn them. The cascade effect of many lower-ranked students packing themselves up, abandoning food and plates for the housepets to clean up. The defiant murmur of any higher-ranked students who didn’t want to appear weak by running away. It was honestly quite amusing to me.
Mary’s presence announced itself as she stepped into the cafeteria. Her shoes clacked as she strode up to the council desk. Grabbing a passing house pet by their tag, I’m not even sure if the house pet is hers or not, she bit out her food order before letting him go.
“Chadwick White! You Mother Fucking Fuck face!” Her voice rang out loud and clear across the narrowing gap between Mary and the council’s table. Kira gave me a side look, as if saying It’s your girlfriend, deal with it.
My responding head shake conveyed my helplessness, and when I leaned forward to whisper to Kira, she leaned closer, turning her ear to me.
“It’s not my fault she didn’t get a coffee this morning! I’m not going to deal with her!” At my words, Kira’s face turned sour.
“Please. Don’t act like I’m stupid, I know the coffee you order from my barista each morning isn’t yours anymore, as if you’d ever drink a vanilla cappuccino. You’ve been drinking Raf since I introduced it to you while we were living in the Moscow Dacha. This morning, you didn’t order any coffee. She’s your problem to deal with!” Kira’s comment was delivered with scathing laughter at the start, but gentled significantly with the memory of their childhood.
While we had been talking, Chad and Mary had continued their argument, something about Chad betting against her in Yumeko’s bet this morning. Yumeko’s hidden bet was that Mary would have snapped and challenged someone by the end of first class; she’d put an extra bonus on Mary gaining a house pet as well.
Clearly, Chad had placed a bet on Mary losing her shit before class ended this morning. Apparently, the part that annoyed Mary was the fact that Chad had bet on Mary losing the gamble. I could kind of understand the logic behind Mary’s offence, but clearly her response was over the top.
“You know what, Chad?” hearing the tone of Mary’s voice and the way she twisted Chad's name as if it was a disease, and hilarious at the same time, had me on my feet in an instant. That tone only led to one thing.
“I Chal-“ Mary’s words are cut off by my hand cupping her lips, my arm once again wrapping around her waist and lifting her off her feet. Turning her around, I sat her on the table, her short legs swinging, unable to reach the ground. Placing both hands on her thighs, I leaned in to whisper to her.
“Come on, Mary, let’s go back to my room, and we can cuddle” I slid my hands up her thighs slowly as I whispered, a distraction. I was not above fighting dirty when it came to my girlfriend, it appeared.
“I don’t want to. I am in the middle of something important!” Mary’s hands pushed at my shoulders as she tried to turn back around to Chad and issue him a challenge. Looking over Mary’s shoulder, I noticed Chad's face had gone white, and he was frozen in his seat.
“гребаный идиот!” I muttered to myself, Chad's self-preservation instincts lacking severely. (fucking idiot)
“Сестра, если ты его не уберешь, Мэри снова станет твоей проблемой.” My voice was strong and loud enough to carry across the table to my sister. My focus remained on my struggling girlfriend, not checking to see if Kira had followed my orders or not. (Sister, if you don’t take this away, Mary will be your problem again)
My hand ran up Mary’s arm, across her shoulder. I paused long enough to caress her collarbone gently, knowing there was a particularly colourful hickey there from yesterday. My hand continued past her collarbone and up her neck, coming to rest just under her head and wrapping around it.
“Радость моя, you are going to listen to me.” My words were louder this time, the dominant tone requiring me to project my voice for full effect. At the use of her Russian pet name, Mary’s eyes met mine and stuck. I used my grip around her neck to add effect and weight to my words, trying to rein in her bad mood and manage her bratty attitude. Her eyes rolled in her usual sarcastic attitude, and I knew she was about to open her mouth to rebut. I just squeezed tighter and watched as her eyes rolled again, this time up into her eyelids. (My joy)
“Жoпа. We are going to walk to my room quietly with no fights on the way. Am I understood?” My words were harsh, but I knew Mary loved it that way. I loosened my grip on her neck, giving her just enough room to nod before I released her from my grip entirely and stepped back from the table. Holding my hand out for Mary’s, she clasped mine as she wiggled her way off the table with a small jump. Quietly, we made our way back to my room, the rumours and whispers already flying. (Brat)
Later, I learned that Suki had been recording us and had used snippets in his posts. Proof, he called it, proof that the president and vice president had control of all their councillors. Honestly, I thought it was probably payback for Mary’s Alpha Sean comments that morning.
The shock ripples echoed through the school for days; the longest-lasting ripple was due to the entire cafeteria hearing my voice for the first time. Many people losing bets about my ability to speak. Others are winning surprising amounts of money and boosting themselves up the rankings. I couldn’t find it in myself to regret speaking so loudly, though I’d discovered I would do just about anything for my love, Радость моя. (my joy)
The following morning, I went to pick up my coffee order from Kira’s barista to find it missing. Instead, in its place was a large glass filled with ice-y brown liquid. There was a folded note on top. Unfolding it, I read the message from Kira.
‘I did some research and found a coffee bean that pairs nicely with vanilla. Also, cold brew coffee is supposed to have a higher amount of caffeine in it, releasing at a slower rate to prevent a crash or jitters. The brewing process means that it has fewer oils or acids, so it should have a smoother and sweeter taste.
Kira
I knew that the note was a silent apology for getting me caught up in their coffee feud the previous day. She’d never say it out loud, but neither would I. We are Timurov’s.
I made my way back to my room with the coffee. After Mary’s bad day yesterday, we crashed in my bed for an afternoon nap. When Mary woke, I didn’t want to risk taking her out where other students were, so we stayed in my room, Mary scheming a way to get her next coffee fix without Uber Eats. By the time she’d finished, it had been well past curfew, and neither of us really wanted to sleep in separate beds. Not that we ever did anyway.
Arriving at my dorm, I swiped my entry pass and opened the door to an expected sight. It still sent shivers down my spine and put an uncontrollable smile on my face. Mary had wrapped herself in my sheets, pulling the thickest blanket over her head, leaving only part of her nose and mouth visible. The other half of her face and nose was buried into my pillow. With a smile etched on my face, I put the coffee on my bedside and climbed into bed with my sleepy girlfriend.
Later that morning, Mary flounced into the council meeting room, a folder of papers in her hand. A neat pile of elegantly filled-out request forms, a submission for a plan intended to help boost the esteem of St Dominic’s within the local community. Father had been pressuring Kira to raise the impression and prestige of the school within the local community for 6 months now. I had to admit, Mary was devious and manipulative when she wanted to be.
The request was passed partway through the meeting, Kira not thinking twice about the ramifications. She didn’t even glance at the submission name. The first thing Kira noticed was the potential to present the best side of the school to the community. Money. So, Kira and the rest of the council voted for Mary’s plan to allow housepets and students off campus to collect food orders from local businesses and bring them back.
Mary’s mood on the walk to class was marginally better than the day before. The coffee and the small wine went a long way to smooth over her exhaustion. I’d expected my girlfriend to be a little more annoyed or on edge without her second drink of the morning, but she seemed to perk up more after the meeting.
Arriving at her class to drop her off, I noticed one of her housepets waiting by the door, face red and sweat glistening in her brows. After giving me a quick kiss, Mary turned to walk into class, grabbing her housepets tie on the way past and telling her to clean up, before grabbing her drink and taking her seat.
This time, the liquid inside the cup was a shockingly bright mix of pink and green, topped with whipped cream. On my walk to my classroom, I couldn’t help but wonder what flavour it was, and if I would be getting a ‘taste’ today or not.
Arriving at class, the curiosity was driving me crazy; usually, Mary had time between the meeting and class to at least tell me what it was. Taking my seat and pulling out my laptop, I began to search through the Starbucks menu, checking each and every page. Unable to find it, I slammed my laptop closed. A few students around me flinched at the noise, looking up. Realising who made the noise, many students shrank into their seats. A few students, including my newest housepet, stood up and left the room entirely.
Even more infuriatingly, Mary didn’t come and find me for a ‘taste’ of her drink like she had been all week, excluding the previous day. After entering the cafeteria, I understood why she hadn’t met me. The entire cafeteria’s eyes were on Kira and Mary.
Kira was in the middle of a tirade about how cheap, trashy, and poor-taste Mary’s drink was. Today, she seemed to be stuck on how paltry and plebian it was to be sipping from a plastic cup, how it ruined the flavour, how no coffee could be of any good standard if it was served in a plastic cup. At that, Mary’s smile only got bigger.
Kira’s rant continued, not even noticing Mary’s grin. She questioned Mary on how any coffee could actually taste good when surrounded by what looked like fairy floss puke. Mary had started giggling when she mentioned coffee again.
“You know what makes it taste good, Kira?” Mary’s interruption drawled out, a conniving grin on her face, tinting her head slightly, mockingly.
“What?” Kira’s reply was sharp and annoyed, likely exacerbated by being cut off.
“There’s not even any coffee in here.” Mary let the words burst from her chest with an excited giggle similar to the one when she regained her student council chair.
Kira’s face slowly turned redder and redder, before she strutted out of the cafeteria.
Not long after that, Mary did drag me off to taste test her drink. Mermaid Frappuccino, she called it. When I questioned the menu I had researched, she only giggled before telling me that now that a housepet was ordering in person, she could order drinks from the secret menu
The next morning it was another secret menu concoction, a reverse of the previous pink with green, this time a striking magenta swirl across the middle of the cup, offset by the matcha green. A dragon Frappuccino, Mary had announced to the council chamber that morning.
Next it was a slightly disturbing shade of pink, as if ai had tried to draw the colour and texture of a slightly unripe watermelon into a cup. There was of course a generous serving of whipped cream on top, layered with a fine green powder.
“Thank you, Mother Kira,” Mary said, mocking Suki’s TikTok voice.
“By allowing students off campus to retrieve orders from local businesses, I can now order from the secret menu at Starbucks. Do you like my Narwhal Frappuccino? There’s no coffee in it.” Mary responded to the confused look on Kira’s face.
Kira’s anger was palpable.
Next it was a blended drink with a mix of cream white and pale pink topped this time with a light pinkish colour whip. Pokeball Frappuccino. Later that day I’d had to google what a pokeball was. She told me it was vanilla, and strawberries and crème mixed together and the whip, tasting so good on her lips, was strawberry.
It seemed that Mary had a liking for berry flavours in her drinks.
Then, Red Tuxedo Frappuccino. By this stage Mary had taken to sleeping in my dorm more and more often, her orders being dropped off to the table in the hallway between my and Kira’s rooms. An additional insult for Kira to see as she left just before Mary each morning. If she hadn’t stayed in my room that night, and the drink wasn’t collected by 7:55 a housepet would simply move it to the council meeting table.
After that it was a pink and green gradient iced drink. When she posted it to Instagram the titles. It Matcha Pink Drink.
Next it was a peachy coloured iced drink again, a fuzzy peach tea I’d learned.
Next was a purple-coloured drink, iced again this time instead of blended. Mary called it a lavender haze. Judging by the smile on her face after her first sip, I could tell she enjoyed this one more than the others.
And, for a while, her order stayed consistent.
About a week later there was a change, although only slight. It was the same drink, only now there was a thicker creamy lilac foam on top. Lavender cream cold foam.
A week after that, with no deviations to Mary’s order other than a random additional drink, usually a sweet cream cold brew order being placed, Kira became smug. Content with her slow win.
So Mary stepped it up. The next day I noticed that instead of Mary’s lavender haze sitting on the hallway table, there was a tall, sweet cream cold brew and a dirty chai that Mary had introduced to me at the beginning of term. Mary told me it was just because we had been up late washing and rebraiding her hair.
I soon learned that wasn’t the whole truth. Partway through the meeting I began to hear some sounds coming from the small student council kitchen. Fearing the worst, the memory of Dori getting to pull apart the blender to access the spinning blade bursting to the forefront of my mind. I did a quick headcount. Ensuring all council members were in their seat I noticed the smug little grin on Mary’s face. That smug grin told me all I needed to know, and I refocused on the meeting.
However, Kira was now starting to notice the sounds coming from the kitchenette. Shooting me a quick glance I reassured her that it was not a security issue and she continued with the meeting. For a few seconds anyway before she heard some more noises, a slight banging on the bench in the kitchenette. I could see the annoyance and anger in the tense lines of Kira’s shoulders. Could tell from the way her speech had become still and slightly overly eloquent, too formal, even if unnoticeable to others in the council.
Shortly after that Mary’s most trusted house pet enters the meeting room, placing a freshly made Lavender Haze in front of a grinning Mary. Leaning around Kira slightly I made eye contact with Mary, a questioning look in my eyes. The cup was not entirely full, leaving a few centimetres empty at the top of the cup. My curiosity was satisfied when Mary’s Housepet returned with a smaller white Starbucks cup and a clear plastic lid for Mary’s cold drink cup.
Elegantly balancing, as if it was a performance and not just making a coffee, the housepet poured the lavender cream into the top of Mary’s drink. Although, I wondered to myself, I guess it was a show considering Mary’s quite obvious intentions.
Kira became livid. Clearly Mary had hit a nerve and after the previous days comments I couldn’t blame her. Oddly I felt a spark of pride and satisfaction towards Mary. Although I started to fear for the longevity of myself if I their coffee war continued.
Kira challenged Mary to a game of blackjack, Yumeko acting as the house as the fairest person there. Mary accepted and Kira won. As expected, Mary’s position on the leaderboard dropped, putting her in 10th position down from 7th.
Mary just shrugged in response, it’s not as if it affected her standing much and after being sent down to housepet status last semester Mary was less afraid and more confident.
The next morning was a similar process, Mary had stayed in my room again and once again there was an oddly small white cup waiting on the hallway table. Mary downed the cup the second she saw it, making a small moan in appreciation.
“A happy shot,” Mary said noticing my curious look, as the confusion began to bloom across my face she continues, explaining “It’s pretty much just espresso, syrup and cream.”
Once again partway through the meeting I started to hear noises in the kitchenette, however this time when Mary’s housepet appeared it was with a mostly empty Starbucks cup. Lining the bottom were crushed blueberries and blackberries, around the cup there was a berry purple swirl and ice, topped with dried berries.
Seemingly the whole council was curious, and the meeting halted in its tracks. Mary’s housepet returned, this time with another 2 Starbucks cups. Pouring the first transparent pink tea into the glass it became clear that the lilac colouring was due to the berries in the drink as they leeched colour. The colours swirled together for a moment before the housepet opened the second cup and poured in the soy milk. The milk swirled into the tea and finalised the drink into its purple colour Mary seemed to enjoy so much. Returning once again to the kitchenette the housepet returned with the finishing touches, the lavender foam topping and this time some extra dried berries to decorate the top.
“I’d just like to give my thanks to Kira who in improving our relations with the local community, has allowed my morning coffee to become the masterpiece it deserves to be. You know, my housepet got these berries from a local farmers market, excellent support for the community.” Mary’s tone was loud and clear as though she was addressing a large formal gathering, not the small student council meeting we were in.
“Yes, I think we are all benefiting from that request Mary. It’s just such a shame for all that beauty and elegance to be hidden by such a garish cup” Kira’s voice was tight and controlled but her words gave me an idea.
Walking Mary to class this morning I was a bit distracted, trying to plan my idea. Hopefully it would calm down both sides of this war. Giving Mary a quick kiss and leaving her at her class I paced through the secret hallways back towards my council office. I needed my laptop for research.
Sitting down at my desk and opening my laptop I knew that neither my sister, nor my girlfriend would give in to this war I began to search. Opening Google I entered my search and began looking through the images. Finding an image of a glass tumbler, I sent it to my contact and requested 3 sets of custom double wall-insulated glass with the purple swirl, similar to the image. The lid would be made of glass and have an opening for Mary to either sip through or insert a straw. I added an additional request, her name to be moulded out of the glass. Sending the email, I felt satisfaction when I had an immediate reply that it would be sorted by the end of the day, and I would have confirmation of a delivery date soon.
The war between Kira and Mary continued for a few weeks while I waited for delivery. Mary infuriated Kira with some addition to her ‘coffee’ that made it seem even more blue collar to Kira. Kira is gambling her down to tenth place on the leaderboard. Mary spent the rest of the day climbing the leaderboard through side bets and small gambles.
About a week later, I had the 3 coffee cups in my hands, inspecting them, I ensured that they were perfect before massaging another contact. This time, I planned for the glasses to be sent to a specialty glass jeweller. Two glasses would have a 3 CT diamond inset into the R of Mary’s name; the third glass was a spare in case of damage during the process. I know I could just have another glass made if there were damages, but I didn’t want to prolong the process.
3 days later, Mary’s coffee cups arrived. The next morning, I told Mary that I had some council business that I had to handle before the meeting. Instead, I intercepted her housepet on her way out of the council kitchenette. I explained the glasses, who they were to be given to, and how I expected them to be collected by one of the housepets as soon as Mary had finished her drink each day. Satisfied that she understood my expectations and wouldn’t fuck it up, I began to explain what I wanted to happen that morning.
During the council meeting, I sat in my seat instead of my usual position behind Kira, allowing me to watch both Kira’s and Mary’s reactions to my gift. Partway through the meeting, I could see Mary’s drink being made or rather, prepared.
The housepet entered the room, causing no more commotion than on other mornings. Still, the council members waited for the show, Kira vs Mary. I listened to Kira continue her explanation of the latest requests. Found it funny when Kira, Mary and Yumeko were the only ones still participating in the conversation, the other council members frozen at the sight of the glass as housepet continuing to pour Mary’s drink.
I saw Sukkot, out of the corner of my eye, slowly pull his phone out of his blazer pocket to take a picture of the glass. Kira noticed it too, shooting him a glare and turning her attention to him. He knew that recordings during council meetings were to be pre-authorised and approved by Kira herself, and he hadn’t had that. I didn’t bother taking my eyes off Mary. Waiting.
“Suki, what in god’s name possessed you to- “ Kira’s tirade of discipline was cut off when she gasped. Mary, now that the request discussion had been cut off, had reached for her glass without looking. When the glass hadn’t tilted as easily as it usually did, had an unusual weight and wasn’t as cold as it should be, Mary had looked down at what she was doing.
“What the fuck!” Mary’s shock was clear to everyone, and Kira swung her head around to look at Mary for the disturbance. I felt more than saw Kira’s body tense up. A moment later, both girls swung their eyes to me, correctly deducing that id bought the new cup.
“Call it even” I stated in a calm voice. Mary's body stiffened in shock, and she swung her gaze between the gift and mine. Kira just sighed before turning to Mary.
“At least now the presentation of the drink and the display match and manage to cover up your plebian preferences. I can overlook the lack of coffee since I know how much you enjoy the cold brew my barista makes.” Kira's tone was sharp and unforgiving. Just leave it to my sister to antagonise Mary into a new war, the second I ended the last one. There was no response from Mary. With that, Kira continued the meeting.
Mary was still frozen, not listening to Kira, not even noticing the jab. Seeming to shake herself out of it, I watched her mouth the words thank you before she lifted it carefully, almost caressing the glass as she took a sip. I watched her hands tracing the purple swirl in the glass and smiled to myself.