“I'm hungry,” groaned Jason, writhing on the pale pink sofa.

“The kitchen's there.” Satara pointed to the open doorway, half absorbed in the Lego Star Wars spaceship in her hands.

“I don't know what to do in a kitchen,” he said, rolling onto his side to face her. “I mean, I can make toast and boiled eggs. And I can scramble and fry them too but –”

“I'm sure I saw eggs in there.” She clicked another Lego piece into place and checked the building instruction for the model. “If not, Sin'll be back soon.”

“I might die before then,” he complained. “What can you make?”

Then die. She held her tongue until she was ready to speak a little less harshly. “Probably the same as you. Sandwiches and cereal too.”

“I don't want sandwiches or cereal.” He turned onto his back again. “I want real cooked food.”

Eggs are cooked. The front door opened before she could share that handy bit of information with him.

“He's back!” Jason lurched off the sofa and poked his head around the doorway. “Sin, Tara's being mean to me.”

“Mean to you?” Her cousin's low voice preceded his appearance in the hallway as he put down a handful of bags and pressed his palm to Jason's forehead. “How?”

“I wasn't being mean.” She put down the Lego spaceship and joined Jason by the door.

She took the bags from Sinastar's other hand as he touched her brow with his first. Jason picked up the rest from the floor and they carried the shopping into the kitchen.

“She wouldn't feed me,” he said, retrieving tins of baked beans and soup from one of his bags.

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“Why would I feed you?” Satara put her bags on the counter and raised a fist at him.

Rice, flour, lentils … They go here. She opened one of the lower cabinets and started packing them away.

“Why should she feed you?” asked Sinastar less aggressively as he opened the fridge and began throwing away anything that was out of date.

“Because I'm hungry – Ow!” Jason rubbed his shoulder and backed away from his best friend. “And now she's beating me up.”

He pulled a cucumber and a carrot from a fabric bag and crossed them in front of him as though they were swords.

“You've got hands.” She eyed the bag of vegetables but resisted the impulse to seek a weapon of her own. “Feed yourself.”

“I was going to make something for lunch anyway,” said Sinastar.

He packed away bottles of milk and a stick of butter before rescuing the cucumber and carrot from Jason.

“He should learn how to feed himself,” said Satara as she passed Sinastar the heavy fabric bag.

“You're gonna make food for me?” Jason's expression brightened and pushed away the shadows of doubt as he resumed his food sorting and opened the noodle drawer. “Can you cook?”

“A little.” Sinastar smiled at his cousin and also opened a drawer, packing away the leafier vegetables. “Of course, I'll need some help with the vegetables.”

“I can cut them,” she murmured, lifting her eyes from the cereal boxes in her hands to one of the high shelves. Damn it. “And peel them.”

“I can't,” announced Jason with a grin.

He took the Cornflakes and Weetbix from her raised hands as she tiptoed beneath the cabinet and placed them on the shelf beyond her reach. I could've done it. She pulled a face at him to convey her though but thanked him with a dip of her head. But why should I? If he can do it easily anyway.

“Then you'll have to learn very fast,” said Sinastar as he put the last of the shopping away in the fridge and rolled up his sleeves. “Maybe if you ask, Satara might help you.”

“Maybe,” agreed Satara.

She rolled up her own and smiled faintly as Jason turned to her with a despairing moan.

“Ah come on!”

***

“You –” Jason looked at the small feast on the table in front of them and then at Sinastar, both disgusted and impressed. “– You're one of those guys, aren't you?”

“I'm not sure what you mean?” Sinastar's smile tilted as if he knew exactly what Jason meant and he sat down adjacent to them.

“Those fictional guys that girls love. The ones who can fight, and read complicated books, and clean up after themselves, and –” He poked at the bowl of noodles, topped with sliced boiled eggs, sausage meat, and shaved vegetables, with his fork. “– and make tasty crap like this as if it's simple. And look like a – look good while they do all that too.”

“Most guys could do it if they really wanted to,” said Sinastar.

He slid the salt and black pepper towards the centre of the table and handed each of them a pair of chopsticks.

“Except maybe the looking good part,” said Satara, stirring the contents of her bowl. “Not everyone can do that.”

Jason put his fork and chopsticks down with a sigh. “I think I just lost my appetite.”

“You better not waste our time,” she growled, pointing at his bowl with her chopsticks. “Now eat.”

Sinastar smiled to himself and began eating his noodles before she could ask why.