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The girl pulled a plate out of the fridge, her brow furrowed in clear confusion. "What's up with this rice?"
The cold light of the morning that filtered in through the window made the idea of rest inviting, but the boy had been awake for longer than he could be bothered to count. He raised his gaze from the book, and she was probably the only person in the city who'd be able to tell his eyebags looked deeper than usual.
"Oh... I made that last night at like 4 am..." He shifted his weight in the chair when the girl picked up a fork. "I wouldn't recommend you try it."
She rolled her eyes and did so anyway. Then gagged loudly. "Arceus Mighty, what the fuck did you put in this?"
The boy shrugged but smiled. "I warned you. It... It got burned, but I still put in some tomato sauce and an egg and... dunno, some unmarked spices from your cabinet?"
"Mm-hmm," she answered while throwing the rest into the trash. "Any particular reason for keeping this experiment?"
"It was for me, not for you."
"Sometimes I can't believe it when you say you used to cook for yourself every day."
He lowered the book and rested on his elbow. "I never said I cooked well, just that I kept myself fed while my parents were at work."
"On pancaked sausages?"
"Hey, the galette-saucisee is a family recipe passed down from my grandma," he pointed out, feigning offense.
"She could've passed down something good, like teaching you how to use spices like a real person."
"Who taught you?"
A minimal pause in her movements. "I experimented by myself. We weren't allowed a lot of ingredients back at..." She shrugged. "So when we came here and had a whole supermarket of options, I tried whatever. You were spared of that at least."
"Well, maybe I wouldn't have minded, considering my taste."
She shot him an accusatory look and he just laughed it off. "Although..." She kept rummaging through the fridge and sighed. "We should go grocery shopping, there's nothing to cook."
"Mhm." He was already back to reading.
"You're coming with." She gave him a pat on the back on her way to the bedroom, he let out a groan and ran his hands through his face. "C'mon, it'll do us good to get some fresh air."
The boy moved his chair away from the table but didn't get up. "Can't we do that later?" he murmured reluctantly.
"Yanchu, I have a workshop today..." She stared at him, tired of his attitude. "Fine, if you're not feeling well I can do it on my own."
"No, it's ok," he replied too quickly. "I'll go with you."
There was a moment of tenseness when he realized what his answer had implied.
"What, I can't even go out to get groceries on my own now?"
"Of course you do. But you’d have to carry a lot of bags," he tried to fix it.
The girl seemed uncomfortable for a moment but just shook her head. "Then come on."
He saw her looking for something and grabbed the pants that were hanging from the back of his chair. "Here, catch." He threw them and she caught them without even looking. "You'll have to pay, you know the grocery store doesn't take debit and I'm not gonna walk all the way to the ATM."
"Yeah yeah, I'm pretty sure if you walk that far you'll pass out. Oh shit--" She nearly fell as she struggled putting them on.
"Is it that bad?" he chuckled. He stood by the door after putting away some of the loose papers and empty mugs on the table. There was no need to get changed, he was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. And maybe the previous day too.
"Awful. Both you and these stupid skinny jeans." She smiled at him, taking his hand and the keys before going out.
