Chapter Text
Katarina double checked the address on her phone, scrutinising the building in front of her. There were no conspicuous markings or signage matching the establishment she was looking for. In fact, the windowless building, nestled between a few industrial buildings on the edge of downtown, was dead silent. It wasn’t until she cracked the door open that she could hear the low steady telltale thump of a muted bass. The interior entrance was flooded with the dim pink of a neon sign hung over the mouth of a foreboding set of stairs. Charmed. Her sister really did know how to find the weirdest establishments.
The bouncer at the top of the steps, who was probably more muscle than gray matter, gave her ID a good long once over before motioning for her to enter. Past the threshold of the entrance, it was like she had entered another plane of existence altogether. The music was now playing at full force, some sort of house trance music, she really didn’t care for it. True to form, Cassiopeia had chosen a swanky high end lounge that was off the map enough to be exclusive.
Katarina made a detour to the bar before finding her friends. One of the bartenders was a giant wiry spider of a man, neon lights dancing off the top of his bald head. His mouth twisted into a sort of ugly frown from what looked like scarring. Katarina approached him, and ordered a gin and tonic, alongside an old fashioned. She could see the man examine her face as he made her drinks, not hiding that he was looking at the scarring over her eye, and nodded in vague acknowledgement.
Armed with drinks, she set about looking for her sister. It wasn’t hard, Cassiopeia’s dark auburn hair had been done up with some sort of glitter that winked like stars in the club lights. Plus she had an entourage that would make any celebrity jealous.
Katarina sauntered up behind her sister’s lounge chair, and reached over to place the gin and tonic in front of the other girl. Cassiopeia glanced upwards and a smile lit across her face.
“Kat! I was wondering when you’d get here.” She looked to the woman sitting to her right, “Shoo, shoo. Let my sister sit.”
Katarina ignored Cass’ judgmental look as she hopped over the back of the seat in the least lady-like manner, but her sister seemed to forgive her as she pulled her into a hug and a chaste cheek kiss. Katarina pulled away and looked pointedly at the man whose arm she was currently draped over.
“Oh! This is Zed. Zed this is my sister, Katarina.”
The man shook her hand awkwardly. He was picture perfect, almond eyes on a symmetrical face, and the type of body that you would see in magazines.
“Pleasure.”
Katarina caught a hint of what might have been an accent. She nodded in return, and turned her attention back to her sister, dropping a small gift bag on her lap. There really was no point getting to know any of Cassiopeia’s boy toys personally. They never lasted more than a few months.
“Happy Birthday.”
“Ooh!” Cassiopeia abandoned her human armrest and rummaged through the bag. She lifted out the gift box, tearing through the paper wrapping with meticulously manicured nails—they were rich green and gold acrylic claws this time.
Zed peeked over his girlfriend’s shoulder to get a better look at the unwrapped present—a plastic case lined with cotton with a large rusted disc seated at its center.
“An old coin?” He stated not without a slight unimpressed tone. Katarina rolled her eyes at his attitude, this one wasn’t going to last a week.
“Is this real?! ”
Katarina nodded, keeping a straight face, but reveling in the abject awe her sister was admiring the artifact with. It wasn’t often that you gave a girl who had everything something she wanted, and Cassiopeia Du Couteau had everything and more. In spades.
“A real Shuriman medallion, straight from an Egyptian dig site.” Katarina affirmed, “I even made sure to get it authenticated.”
Cassiopeia smothered Katarina in a tight bone breaking hug. She whispered a quiet thanks in Katarina’s ear, and pulled away, grinning widely. The medallion had cost her an incredible amount but seeing the smile on Cassiopeia’s beautiful face was worth every dollar spent.
“Where’s Talon?” Katarina searched the score of faces around them, looking for signs of their brother.
“Late. He’s working a shift until midnight. He said he’ll be here after.”
The sisters shared a knowing look with one another. The third Du Couteau sibling, had taken a break from school to earn money. He now worked high end security detail, meaning long shifts and late nights. Their father had offered to pay his tuition, but Talon outright refused any help. Cassiopeia had even tried to secretly pay for him, but Talon had found out her ploy and the resulting fight was disastrous. Though they never treated him any differently, they all knew Talon held his adopted family with a certain regard. They had been close at younger ages, but at some point he had gotten it in his head that he didn’t deserve the home he had been taken into.
Katarina melted back in the seat to watch Cassiopeia’s party unfold, slowly sipping her drink. She couldn’t recognise a single person. Her sister’s friends numbered so many it was hard to keep track of them all. They all showered Cassiopeia with affection, offering in turn to buy rounds of shots or expensive wines. All vying for attention that Cassiopeia danced around with giving, making sure to give just enough to get intoxicated on, but never enough to sate. She was the perfect conductor, not a single person ever seemed to be able to keep their eyes off her.
And who could ever blame them? The youngest Du Couteau was the star example of a young socialite. Smart, witty, and as a spitting image of their mother, she was gorgeous to boot. It was Katarina’s running joke that Cass probably would bleed blue. There probably wasn’t a single person alive that she couldn’t get wrapped around her little finger.
On the other hand, Katarina wasn’t as much of a people person. Frankly, she would even consider herself the exact opposite. Sure, she held a close knit group of friends that she would drop anything for. But their earned loyalty was no small feat on their part. She just didn’t socialise in the same way. This was further highlighted with Zed tried to awkwardly start a conversation with her when Cassiopeia had her attention directed elsewhere. He bored Katarina on topics like about how he attended medical school, and other talk that folks usually have living their college lives.
Cassiopeia must have spotted her losing her mind, she swooped in gracefully with a hand on Zed’s arm.
“Can you be a dear and grab me another drink?”
When he stalked off out of earshot, Katarina raised an eyebrow at her sister.
“Four more days.”
Cass laughed, taking Zed’s vacated seat, “Oh come on. He’s cuter than that. Even if his nickname is the literal last letter of the alphabet.” She scrunched her nose up in slight disgust, “I’ll give him five days.”
“Eh.” Katarina offered up a shrug. She didn’t really get the games her sister played, but if she had fun, then who was she to say anything?
“Oh, when’s D-Day by the way?”
“Come and gone. Trucks dropped off some boxes this morning, and when I came home the boxes were gone. Maybe fate decided to have mercy on me and she decided not to move in after all.”
Cassiopeia snickered. “Or she unpacked. You didn’t even meet her?”
“No? The less I see of her the better.”
“Please tell me you at least know her name.”
“Nope. Maybe an Ashley Something?”
“Oh my god.” Cassiopeia bit her lip trying and failing to stop the huge grin from spreading across her face. “I can’t believe Papa is making you get a roommate!”
There it was. Katarina was waiting all evening for Cassiopeia to make fun of her for it. As much as she loved her sister, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed. Especially when the younger Du Couteau had a direct hand in setting up the circumstances.
Cassiopeia’s last fling had been a downright ass. He was self-centered, condescending, and kind of just your classic idiot. Katarina had reached her last straw a month ago when he said something less than savoury to her during Cassiopeia’s last club party. Perhaps she may have regretted the first punch to his stupid face, but every one after that felt too good to be sorry about. And of course, his buddies did then join in and maybe she had gotten arrested with them for causing a public disruption.
The thing about having the Deputy Commissioner of a national police force as your family patriarch meant that sometimes you could get out of trouble scott-free. On the other hand, it came with a catch. See, Marcus Du Couteau had big plans for his children. They weren’t going to live average lives if he had a say in anything.
Cassiopeia, he hadn’t really needed to worry about. She had taken after her mother’s intellect, double majoring in political science and business while balancing a healthy social life. However, he felt his older two needed slightly more guidance. He wanted them both to follow in his footsteps, and while Talon readily took up the path, his stubbornness in other matters created his own slew problems.
Meanwhile, Katarina was an entirely different headache. Though she didn’t outright object to his wishes, she had a penchant for getting in trouble. Which was not a good look for the Deputy Commissioner. Especially since she managed to start a public brawl in a club that ended up with sixteen injured.
Having royally pissed off her dad, he had gotten it in his head that Katarina needed to learn to get along with others more. Somehow he decided that she needed a roommate and thereby went and rented out half her place. He owned the place after all, so he was well within his rights. Still, Katarina was furious. The townhouse space had been hers, and now she was forced to share it with a person she didn’t even know. Additionally, Marcus dangled the threat of forcing her to move back home over her head should she not be able to stick with it for at least a year.
So in some sort of long roundabout way, yes, it was partly Cassiopeia’s fault.
“Don’t you dare laugh. I’ll make you regret it.”
Cassiopeia’s green eyes sparkled. In amusement. “Ha. Just you try, I’ll tell Papa you’re being disagreeable.”
Katarina flipped her a bird as she stood, rattling her empty glass. Cassiopeia only laughed again in reply, turning back to her guests to keep them entertained.
The bald bartender was busy, so Katarina approached the other; A shorter brunette woman with a sun-kissed complexion. Katarina leaned casually on the bar counter, brandishing a brown bill.
“This can be yours if you can somehow get the most embarrassing happy birthday song to play over that fancy sound system of yours.” Katarina placed the bill on the counter along with her glass. “And another old fashioned.”
The hundred disappeared in a flash.
“I can make that happen.” The bartender replied. “I love embarrassing people. Who’s it gonna be?”
“My sister. Gorgeous sparkly redhead over there.”
The bartender nodded in obvious approval and walked off somewhere after making Katarina a fresh drink.
At the first tones of ridiculous children’s jingle music, Casieopeia stood, eyes wide. She found Katarina across the room, leaning against the counter. Katarina toasted her, grinning wickedly at Cass’ flabbergasted expression.
8 am classes were the worst.
It wasn’t so much the waking up early, Katarina was actually an early riser, much to the surprise of many. It was the traffic. By the time she had made it to campus, Katarina was ready to kill the first thing that spoke to her.
“Hey! How goes the house mate situation.”
Katarina glared daggers at the speaker walking behind her into the lecture hall. Sarah Fortune raised her hands up in defence.
“Wow. That bad, I see.”
Katarina relaxed, rolling her eyes. Her friend didn’t mean any harm, but Sarah was always one for pushing buttons.
“Not really. Traffic was just killer.”
“Wow, you’re just going to leave me hanging on the whole roommate thing? What’s it been, like a month? Nothing juicy to share?”
“The juicy stuff is that there isn’t anything going on. I haven’t even met her yet.”
Sarah’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows shot up.
“I don’t really understand how that’s possible.”
“Perfect avoidance.”
“Oh please, only three things really make you leave the house and you’re telling me you’ve managed not to bump into her once?”
That was not true. She went to class, didn’t she? There was the gym every other day, and Cass’ monthly outings. And…
“Okay, fuck you.”
Sarah sighed dramatically, throwing a hand up to her forehead.
“Oh, but I tried! You wouldn’t let me!”
“Very funny.”
It wasn’t as if Sarah wasn’t pretty. In fact, she was drop dead gorgeous. A figure that anyone would kill for, and a complexion that managed to stay fair despite the weekends she spent sailing, anyone would have been lucky to have her. Except with her shock of crimson hair, and a snarky attitude, she reminded Katarina far too much of herself than she liked to admit. So she decided she wasn’t narcissistic enough to go through all that.
They took found seats in the middle of the hall. Halfway through the semester, considerably fewer students were in attendance compared to the size of class Katarina remembered it being.
She wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, one minute she was awake, the next Sarah was shaking her awake.
“Rise and shine. Class is over.”
“God, no wonder half the class doesn’t show anymore. Who the heck can pay attention for three whole hours?”
“Some of us don’t subscribe to the just-get-by method of passing class.”
Katarina stood and yawned, stretching out the kinks in her back. It wasn’t like she was dumb. You don’t just “get by” in third year. You did it by being smart and only doing the exact amount of work required of you.
“Seriously though, you still haven’t seen your roommate? Does she exist? Are you sure your dad isn’t just messing with you to make you behave?”
“Oh no, she exists. I get to wake up at one in the morning when she comes home, and again at six.”
“Yuck. Is she some kind of party animal?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t care. I have no idea why you care so much.”
“Isn’t it interesting, though?” Sarah waved her hands in frustration. “You’ve been living with someone for three weeks now and you’ve never seen them. They come home super late, and leave at the asscrack of dawn. They could be a drug dealer, or a murderer and you wouldn’t even know.”
“I’m pretty sure my father would have done six background checks before they’ve even gone anywhere near the place.”
“Okay fine. Ruin my fun.” Sarah frowned, before casually looping her arm through Katarina’s. “Drive me home?”
“Fine.”
Fridays were simultaneously the best and worst days of the week. The only way to get the courses she wanted that semester meant she had three lectures every Friday, that on top of her gym sessions meant she was home until at least ten. It did, however, signify the end of a long week, and she did close out every single one with gorging herself on take out, and playing video games for the rest of the evening.
The worst feeling about being settled in on the couch for the evening with dinner on the coffee table, and game system booted up and ready to go, was realising that she had forgotten to grab a drink.
Katarina relinquished her seat, and grumbled all the way to the fridge for her beer. She couldn’t help but notice things looking considerably more cramped in the fridge. Tupperware containers of what looked like pasta, and rice meals meticulously stacked up alongside Katarina’s copious amounts of alcohol and snacks. Each container labelled with dates in neat script.
In fact, everywhere she looked, she could see signs that her house was no longer just her own. Heels and boots that didn’t belong to her lined up in the hallway closet; new bottles of expensive looking lotions and shampoos in the bathroom. Despite not seeing hair nor tail of her elusive roommate, Katarina could feel her space slowly encroached upon, becoming less and less of her personal haven.
It was stifling and she hated every bit of it.
Whatever. There was no point dwelling on it. She knew her stubborn streak came from her father and he would not budge on the matter.
She turned to head back to where she had left off, when something caught her attention. A single slip of note paper on the kitchen island. She approached to take a closer look, narrowing her eyes as she read it.
The handwriting on it matched the writing on the containers in the fridge, obnoxiously superfluous (who the hell even used cursive anymore?) and tidy.
“Do your dishes.”
What.
Katarina looked over to the sink where a small pile of dishes she had neglected since Wednesday were swimming in old murky water. She had been intending to do them tomorrow, but now, she had never before been less inclined to do them.
Who the hell did she think she was anyway? Coming into someone else’s home and telling them what to do? And not to mention the note was highly condescending. It wasn’t as if her place was dirty. Granted, not the tidiest, since dishes and laundry folding never seemed to happen the day they were meant to be done, but Katarina by no means would consider herself slovenly.
Katarina ground her teeth, the tension working in her jaw at her roommate’s incredible gall. Before she knew it, her feet had taken her up the stairs and to the closed door that was once a storage room.
What was she even doing? Her roommate was probably not even home anyway. Katarina chanced a knock anyway, and when no response came, she pushed the door open a crack. The room looked drastically different than the last time she had seen it. She hadn’t really filled it with much before, just a few random boxes that she had to remove and unpack. But now it had been transformed into a livable space, albeit a simple one. Obviously, her housemate wasn’t much for decor. Besides the necessities, a simple bed, dresser, and vanity, there wasn’t much else in terms of personalization.
Katarina stole across the room to the desk, and more aggressively than she needed to, slapped the passive aggressive note onto the surface. A pen from a nearby pen holder completed her pièce de résistance with a “FUCK YOU” in response underneath.
Perhaps not the most mature reaction, but she would be damned if she let someone come into her house and boss her around.
An unopened letter sat on the desk, delivered to an Ashe Frørdóttir. What a pretentious name. A perfect match for a pretentious roommate.
Katarina left the room, slamming the door after her. If this was how her roommate was going to play it, then she clearly had no idea the sleeping beast she had just poked awake.
“Oh my god, what is that smell ?”
“That, dear sister, is the smell of rebellion.” Katarina quipped from across the room without looking up from her game. She was just about to win for her team.
“It smells disgusting in here. Oh god, are those your dishes?”
Suddenly Katarina was highly regretting giving her sister keys to her place. She didn’t need to see the mountain of dishes that had yet to be done.
The past week had been a back and forth battle of post-it notes. Mostly nitpicking on Katarina’s unwashed dishes. Eating out as much as she did, there weren’t as many as there could have been, but she was now nearly on the verge of needing to go out and buy more dishware.
“Just leave them, I’ll do them later!”
“No. Oh my god, this is so disgusting. I can’t believe you! How long have these been here?!” Cassiopeia’s incredulous tone rang out from the kitchen. Katarina couldn’t look up, she was just on the cusp of winning her match.
“AH FUCK!” Some idiot on her team just lost the entire game for them. Katarina threw her controller on the couch, and looked over at the kitchen door. Though she couldn’t see Cassiopeia, she could hear her voice floating out. Saying something about her address… wait.
Katarina stormed in the kitchen just in time to see Cassiopeia hang up her phone.
“Did you just hire someone to do my dishes?”
Cassiopeia looked over at her, flipping an errant curl over her shoulder. Her eyes were narrowed in annoyance and disgust.
“Yes. Obviously. How can you even live like this? We can not have our party here if your house is in such an atrocious condition.”
“Fuck. I forgot.”
If looks could kill, Cassiopeia Du Couteau would have murdered Katarina multiple times over.
“I came over to see what I might need to set up for next week, and instead I found Mt. Slob.”
Cassiopeia liked to host a few big parties several times a year. It was nearly time for her fall reading week bash, and Katarina was unlucky enough to be the host this time. Apparently last time someone smashed an expensive Shuriman vase of Cassiopeia’s, and since Katarina’s house was ‘severely absent of any fine art’, it therefore was deemed the most ideal for a party.
“Does it even matter anyway? The place is going to get fucked up anyway, and we’ll have to clean it.”
Cassiopeia flared her nostrils and that was the signal to the end of the argument. Katarina gave one last defiant eye roll in response before going back to her living room. This wasn’t her party or her responsibility, so Cassiopeia could worry about taking stock of the place without her help.
Not fifteen minutes later, Cass’ voice came from the kitchen, this time sounding far more bemused than earlier.
“What the hell are these?”
Cassiopeia popped out into the living room, a stack of post-it notes pinched awkwardly between scarlet acrylics. ‘Do your dishes’ and ‘Put your shoes away’ proudly sitting at the top. She tossed them down on the coffee table.
“Is this why you haven’t been doing your dishes!?”
Katarina chewed the inside of her cheek, not giving her sister the satisfaction of a reaction. The silence that ensued told the whole story anyway.
“Seriously?” Cassiopeia sighed, “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised since stubbornness seems to run in the family.”
Katarina trained her eyes on the tv screen, ignoring Cassiopeia’s searching eyes.
“Don’t say it.”
“Say what? That I think papa might be onto something? That maybe having a roommate is good for you after all? That I think I love her already?”
“Shut up.”
“Oh come on Kat. Don’t be a bummer, I was just joking. Here, just help me figure out what we need to buy.”
Katarina only half-heartedly pretended to be annoyed as she shut her TV off.
When Cassiopeia went all out, she most certainly did not leave any stops in. Katarina returned from the gym the following Monday to see her sister must have been by (her and what must have been an enormous moving crew); The entrance way inside was filled with crates of liquor. All top shelf brands proudly lined up side by side.
She began to wonder what she had gotten herself into. Cassiopeia’s parties were hardly low key, but knowing her, she likely paid off the neighbours to be out of the house for the evening. Her reputation with the community meant as much to her as her socialite status.
Katarina dumped her gym bag in her room, her only solution to avoiding the ‘do your laundry’ post-its that had replaced the dishes one now that those had been done. It wasn’t like she was planning to leave them forever, but Ashe seemed to have a stick in her ass if things weren’t done the moment things came up. Worst still was the fact that none of Katarina’s aggressively worded responses seemed to phase her housemate. Not that much could be gleaned from hand written notes.
As she stepped into the shower, she let the heat ease away the workout aches, and as it usually did in the shower, her mind began to wander.
She didn’t really want to think on it too much, but she couldn’t help agreeing that it definitely was weird she hadn’t met Ashe yet. Over a month and a half of waking up to late night entrances and early morning exits, of dealing with passive aggressive post-its, and still nothing. Even as much as she didn’t want to care, she had to admit it was definitely weird for someone to be so present in her home and yet never there at all. Almost like a ghost.
Katarina paused mid-step as she left the bathroom. Could she be imagining things now that she was caught up thinking in her own head? No there it was again, heavy thudding footsteps coming from the floor below—Someone was in her house. From the sounds of it, they were opening and closing doors, muttering in a low gruff voice.
Katarina held her breath, taking slow steps down the stairs, expertly avoiding all the steps she knew would creak. Now that she was closer, she could hear the footsteps approaching the stairs. Bracing herself, she darted around the corner, and delivered a sound roundhouse kick to the intruder’s nose.
Though her bare foot felt like it collided with solid rock, it was enough to send the man in her living room reeling. He was enormous, built of what definitely was solid muscle. Blood roared in Katarina’s ears as adrenaline sent her heart racing, her body reminding itself of the years of self defence training it had gone through.
She pulled back her elbow ready to deliver another strike. The man held up a hand in panic, his other one guarding his face.
“Wait wait wait!!! I’m not a thief! I’m Ashe’s boyfriend!”
Katarina pulled her strike just short of cracking him across the temple. The man uncurled from his defensive position, and winced as a little blood trickled from his nose. Katarina felt the slightest twinge of guilt at the sight, and awkwardly scrambled to find some tissues. Not enough guilt to apologise, he was still a stranger coming unannounced in her home.
“You must be Katarina.”
Ashe’s boyfriend straightened up to his full height, towering what must have been at least thirty centimetres over Katarina. He looked like a cross between a hipster, a jock, and a viking—built like a linebacker with dark hair groomed neatly into a man bun, a tidy goatee to match. The letterman jacket he wore suggested he may very well be as much of the athlete as he looked. He probably would have looked far more ruggedly handsome if he didn’t have tissues twisted up into his nostrils.
“How did you get in my house… uh….?”
“Trynd.” He stuck out a hand, then awkwardly withdrew it as he realised Katarina wasn’t going to shake it. “Ashe gave me her key. She left her hard drive at home. I promise I’ll be out in a jiff if you show me where her room is.”
Katarina uncrossed her arms and climbed the stairs wordlessly, motioning for Trynd to follow. She pointed out the door on the right.
“Thanks.”
Katarina watched Trynd from the doorway as he rummaged through a few desk drawers, and pulled out a slim black hard drive. Her wariness wore off, it seemed he was telling the truth after all. Now she felt slightly bad for kicking his nose in.
“Hey…” Katarina didn’t do apologies, not unless she knew she was entirely to blame. The best she could offer was some semblance of nicety. “We’re having a party this Saturday. You wanna let your girlfriend know? My sister can help her book a hotel if she wants, it might get a little rowdy in here.”
Trynd nodded at the boxes by the door as he put his shoes back on.
“That what these are for?”
Katarina didn’t miss the slightly wistful note of appreciation in his voice. She hesitated a moment before her still lingering guilt tugged the next words painfully from her.
“I guess if she wants to, you guys can come too. I mean… she does live here.” She left any negative sentiments she had towards her housemate unvoiced.
Trynd laughed, “I’ll let her know. Thanks.”
Katarina let him out, watching him as he got into a pick-up truck in her driveway, before shutting the door.
“Have I ever told you I looooove your sister’s parties?”
In the dimmed light that Cass had an entire fucking lighting crew put up, Katarina’s house was completely transformed. The drab interior now pulsed with life, perfectly in time to the beat of the dance music blasting over the sound system. Live, of course; Some sort of famous Instagram DJ now commandeered a corner of the living room.
Cassiopeia had insisted on her downing a series of mystery shots in a row, and now nursing a beer, Katarina had become tipsy enough to not mind Sarah’s legs propped up on her lap. They were currently sprawled out on her sofa, which had been pushed against the wall perfectly for people-watching, playing smash or pass with the party attendees.
“Does that mean you’d smash Cass? Gross, dude, that’s my sister.”
“Wouldn’t say no, but let’s be real here; I’d have to wait until she finishes going through every member of every male varsity team.”
Katarina raised her beer can up in a salute of agreement. “True. She did get a new boy toy literally yesterday.”
“Are you talking about me?”
Cass’ voice sounded cold, but when Katarina turned to face her, the amused mirth in her eyes told her otherwise.
“Just talking about how much of a giant slut you are.”
The clawed hand on Katarina’s shoulder dug into her skin in playful warning.
“At least someone in the family is getting some.”
Katarina rolled her eyes. “I like to call it ‘actually having standards.’”
“Don’t come at me about standards when you're still single, but have such lovely friends around you.” Cass turned a winning smile to Sarah. Katarina probably deserved the kick she got in the gut from her fake gagging sounds. “Sarah dear, may I borrow my sister? She’s going to play some beer pong.”
Spoken more like a command than a request, Katarina knew this was a non-negotiable social request. Sarah removed her feet from Katarina’s lap and stood.
“Of course. I was just about to see if I could hit up Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome over there on the dance floor.” Sarah sashayed off to find her quarry, leaving Katarina to be reluctantly dragged off by the hand.
“Don’t you have a boyfriend for things like this?”
“That’s who we’re playing.”
Cass lead her down to the ground floor room where a games table had been set up. Katarina hid her surprise to see Trynd’s burly bulk standing ready at one end. Next to him, comically juxtaposed, stood a small lithe man. He looked vaguely androgynous—long lashes over hooded eyes, a tall thin nose, and a delicate Cupid’s bow shaped his disarming smile as he held out a hand to shake Katarina’s.
“Jhin.” He offered, “You must be Katarina. I’ve heard so much.”
A lie, Katarina was sure, Cass had only just met him earlier this week at an art gallery. At least he had manners, better than the last one, she figured. She turned her gaze on Trynd, trying not to make it obvious she was glancing around for anyone that stood out around him.
“Flying solo again today?”
“She has a project due.” Trynd flashed her a lopsided grin, “But I’m all free for reading break so it’s PARTY TIME!”
“We’re all acquainted, it seems? Good. Let’s talk rules. 10 cups, best two out of three rounds.” Cassiopeia waited a moment for all participants to nod in agreement and then brandished a few ping pong balls. She smiled, oozing charm at the two men across the table. “Ladies first?”
Trynd and Jhin looked at each other and shrugged, neither voicing any dissent to the decision. At their approval, Cass lined up her first shot, tossing the ball into the opposing team’s center cup with the ease of someone who had hosted too many parties. Katarina tossed her shot lazily without stepping up to the table, the ball arced and landed in the front-most cup.
Both men scooped up the drinks, and downed the contents. Katarina watched with little interest, noting that Tryndamere in particular drank it like it was water—noting the low levels in the containers, she’d figured her sister must have used something stronger than beer.
Trynd, as it turned out, was not a particularly good shot. Perhaps it was overzealousness, but despite his frat boy appearance, his aim went wide and bounced somewhere off to the side. To make his lack of skill more amusing, Jhin’s aim turned out to be stellar. He somehow made the ping pong ball look like it had gently floated down into the cup. It was almost artistic. Katarina grabbed the cup and downed it. It burned on the way down. Vodka. Go figure.
The game continued, and despite Jhin’s good aim, it was hard for him to make up the difference with Trynd’s wildcard shots. The Du Couteaus won the first round without much difficulty.
The cups were refilled and the game continued. Now quite a few drinks in, Katarina could tell her sister was beginning to get a little drunk, her aim no longer as reliable as it once was. The second round started out much like the first, but ended in a close victory given to the boys.
As Cass went off to refill the cups, Katarina narrowed her eyes at Jhin.
“How about a new rule? When you sink a cup, your choice as to which loser drinks up.”
Jhin smiled back cooly, “I think it’s a little late in the game to be introducing new rules. We should have established that from the beginning.”
Katarina suppressed a scowl. Bastard. She had watched Trynd down both drinks for his team on multiple counts. “Wouldn’t you want to make this game more interesting? You’re not afraid are you?”
Trynd clapped Jhin on the back, “It’s alright dude, drink whatever you can manage.”
Jhin’s already pink cheeks turned a darker shade of rose in what Katarina hoped was embarrassment. He eyed the small crowd watching the game, clearly more than a little bit self conscious of his image.
“Fine.”
The small audience cheered, less for the good sportsmanship, and likely more for the fact they could watch someone get utterly wasted.
Katarina glanced around the room for Cass, spotting her returning with a tray of freshly filled solo cups. Despite her obvious tipsiness, she still managed to carry herself with unparalleled poise. Which was probably ideal when carrying a tray of alcohol.
“Took you long enough. Let’s play.”
Katarina’s wager had been right on the money. Jhin was far more susceptible to the hard liquor than the rest of the participants were. Cass caught on immediately and soon Jhin was tasked to drinking every single cup the sisters made. Probably fair since he skipped out on most of them in the first two rounds.
Before long, his shots were just as unreliable as Trynd’s, and their healthy lead was slowly whittled down to one cup each.
Trynd’s shot missed again, which was unsurprising at this point. He patted a teetering Jhin on the shoulder.
“Come on, man.” He slurred, “Last one! If you get this one, it’s just down to whether or not they can get the redemption round.”
Jhin didn’t respond. He had a hand across his mouth, the other gripping the table to keep himself steady. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths through his nose.
“You okay? Can you maybe throw up after?”
At the words, Jhin’s face paled. Then he was gone, bolting through the crowd as quickly as he could push through it. Katarina swore under her breath, praying that he made it to the bathroom.
“I guess that means we win by forfeit.” Cass goaded triumphantly.
“Wait. Fuck. No, I got this.” Trynd looked around frantically. His face immediately lit up as he spotted something over Katarina’s shoulder. He lumbered forward on unsteady feet. “Hey! Babe!! Get over here!”
Katarina whirled around, and immediately regretted it as the room spun slightly. As her vision untangled itself out of the vortex of colours, she nearly had a cardiac arrest at the figure Trynd was pulling by the hand. The woman’s bright platinum white hair done up in a loose bun was the first thing she noticed. Katarina could hear her pulse pounding in her ears as she froze on the spot, fight or flight instincts blaring in her brain.
Her heart was still racing when she realised she didn’t recognise this person at all. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to relax. The tension she didn’t realise she was holding ebbed but still lingered when realisation eventually hit that she was seeing Ashe for the very first time.
Up until now, Katarina hadn’t been sure what to expect. She had pictured a shrewd, older, librarian-type. While Ashe was dressed in a business casual, and despite the hair colour, she was obviously quite young. Katarina knew it was the alcohol talking, but a part of her brain acknowledged that she was quite pretty. By the time that thought crossed her mind, she quashed it, and re-focused her attention to the conversation between the couple.
“Tryndamere, I was just looking for you. I don’t have time for this.”
“Come on. It’s just one shot. We were just about to win.”
Cassiopeia crossed her arms, “Excuse me? That’s hardly fair. She’s clearly sober.”
“She can throw one from the corner of the room. That would be fair.”
Tryndamere pointed to the cluttered corner where a makeshift bar had been set up. It was surrounded by people, and quite a ways away from the table. Katarina and Cassiopeia shared a look. Katarina shrugged. It was Cass’ game after all. Kat was competitive, sure, but rules were never something she was particularly concerned about. Besides, Ashe really didn’t look like she ever crossed paths with beer pong in her entire life.
Cassiopeia thought a moment before acquiescing.
“Fine whatever.”
“SWEET.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to this.” Ashe interjected, rubbing her temples.
“Just one. Please??” Trynd looked at his girlfriend with the woeful eyes of a wounded puppy. It was almost funny.
Ashe looked down at the ping pong ball proffered in his outstretched hand. She let out an exasperated breath and took it wordlessly, walking to the corner of the room.
Katarina watched as Ashe sized up the distance and tossed the ball towards the table. Whatever self-assuredness Katarina felt until that moment left at the same time the ball left Ashe’s slender fingers. There was something in its spin and trajectory that told her that the ball was going to land in the cup. Even knowing that, she still felt the shock and disbelief when, almost like time slowed and caught up again, the ball bounced into the cup and bobbed happily in the sloshing vodka. The cup barely wobbled.
The entire audience that had been drawn to the game erupted wildly. Tryndamere ran up to his girlfriend and smothered her in a bear hug, spinning around. Ashe peeled herself away from him, shooing people and their phones away as they tried to congratulate her. She said something to Trynd that Katarina couldn’t hear from across the room, and then turned to the door to leave.
There was a moment of pause as Ashe glanced back into the room, and made eye contact with Katarina. The piercing blue eyes unreadable, but Katarina could have sworn she caught a hint of pride in the look. And then she was gone.
“What the fuck?”