They returned to studying, but the atmosphere had shifted. Lighter. Easier. Cheon found herself explaining concepts with less rigid formality, and ra asked questions without performing her usual I-don’t-care routine.
An hour passed. Then another. The sun shifted across the windows, painting the walls in amber and gold. Sowhere around page forty-seven, ra’s stomach growled loud enough to interrupt Cheon’s explanation of quadratic functions.
"Food break," ra announced.
"We should finish this section first."
"Panda. I’m dying." ra clutched her stomach dramatically. "Starvation is imminent."
"You just ate chips twenty minutes ago."
"That was a snack. This is actual hunger." ra stood and pulled Cheon up by both hands. "Co on. Let’s make sothing."
"Make sothing?" Cheon stared at her. "You can’t cook."
"I can boil water."
"That’s not cooking."
"Then you cook and I’ll provide moral support."
They moved to the kitchen together. Cheon opened the refrigerator and frowned at the contents. Ro had stocked it properly after his grocery run, but most of what remained was expensive ingredients neither of them knew how to prepare.
"There’s pasta." Cheon pulled out a box. "And sauce."
"Perfect. Carbs solve everything."
Cheon filled a pot with water and set it on the stove. ra hopped onto the counter beside the burner, swinging her legs and nearly knocking over the sauce jar.
"Don’t sit there. You’ll get hurt."
"I’m fireproof." ra gestured at her red skin. "Perks of being part demon."
"You’re not actually part demon."
"Might as well be. Look at ." ra spread her arms, tail swishing. "Red skin, horns, tail. If it walks like a demon and talks like a demon..."
"It’s a Root-Type modification from your mother’s spatial Essentia." Cheon stirred the pasta chanically. "We covered this in Biology."
"You’re so boring when you’re being accurate."
"I’m always accurate."
"Exactly."
Cheon threw a dish towel at ra’s face. ra caught it with her tail and tossed it back.
The pasta water began to boil. Cheon added salt and dumped in the noodles, then turned to the sauce. ra watched with genuine interest as Cheon heated the marinara in a separate pan, adding garlic powder and dried herbs from the spice cabinet Cheon had reorganized two days ago.
"You’re actually good at this." ra sounded surprised.
"My mother taught ." Cheon stirred the sauce, watching it bubble. "Cooking is just chemistry with edible outcos."
"That’s the saddest description of food I’ve ever heard."
"It’s accurate."
"Still sad."
They fell into companionable silence while the pasta cooked. ra scrolled through her phone, occasionally showing Cheon s about school that Cheon didn’t understand. Cheon focused on not overcooking the noodles, checking them every minute with scientific precision.
"So." ra set her phone down. "You and Aurora."
Cheon stiffened. "What about her?"
"She kissed Ro yesterday."
"I know. Ro told ."
"And you’re okay with that?"
Cheon drained the pasta with more force than necessary, hot water splashing into the sink. "I signed the contract. I knew what this was."
"That’s not what I asked."
"Then what are you asking?"
ra hopped off the counter and moved beside Cheon, her expression unusually serious. "I’m asking if you’re actually okay or if you’re just being okay because you think that’s what you’re supposed to be."
Cheon gripped the pot handle. The tal was still hot, burning against her palm, but she didn’t let go.
"I don’t know," she said finally.
"Yeah." ra’s tail wrapped around Cheon’s waist in what might have been a gesture of comfort. " neither."
They plated the pasta in silence. Cheon added sauce with mathematical precision, dividing it exactly in half. ra grabbed forks and napkins, carrying them to the couch where they settled side by side with their food.
"It’s good." ra spoke around a mouthful of pasta. "Like, actually good."
"Don’t talk with your mouth full."
"See, this is why you need ." ra gestured with her fork. "To teach you how to be a normal person."
"I am normal."
"You color-code your underwear drawer."
"Organization is efficient."
"Organization is sad." ra pointed her fork at Cheon for emphasis. "Normal people just shove everything in there and hope for the best."
"That’s chaos."
"Exactly."
Cheon ate her pasta and tried not to smile. Failed.
They finished eating and cleaned up together, falling into an easy rhythm. Cheon washed while ra dried, though ra spent more ti using the dish towel to snap at Cheon’s backside than actually drying dishes.
"Stop that."
"Make ."
"I will break your tail."
"Kinky."
Cheon’s face burned but she kept washing. Sowhere between the second bowl and the serving spoon, she realized this felt comfortable. Natural. Like they’d been doing this for months instead of days.
Once the kitchen was clean, ra grabbed the remote and flopped onto the couch. "My turn to pick entertainnt."
"We should study more."
"We studied for two hours. That’s enough education for one day." ra patted the cushion beside her. "Co on, Panda. Ti for your real education."
Cheon hesitated but sat down. ra navigated through streaming services with practiced ease, finally landing on a show called Euphoria.
"Absolutely not." Cheon recognized the title imdiately. "That’s completely inappropriate."
"It’s perfect." ra hit play on the first episode. "You need to learn how normal teenagers live."
"We are teenagers."
"We’re superhero teenagers who spend weekends having threesos with our shared boyfriend." ra gestured at the screen. "This will be wholeso by comparison."
The show opened with imdiate drug use and graphic imagery. Cheon covered her eyes.
"I can’t watch this."
"Yes you can." ra pulled Cheon’s hands away. "Just pretend you’re studying human behavior."
"Human behavior doesn’t look like this."
"It does in California."
The episode continued. Cheon gradually stopped protesting and started actually watching. The production quality was exceptional despite the disturbing content, and the acting carried genuine emotional weight.
By the second episode, Cheon was fully invested.
"I can’t believe she did that," Cheon breathed when a character made a particularly terrible decision.
"Right?" ra bounced on the couch. "Everyone in this show makes the worst possible choices."
"It’s stressful."
"That’s the point."
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