Chapter 1: Soup of Disapproval

The morning breeze was chill as a sparrow perched atop a rooftop, watching the street below with quiet interest.

 For some reason, sparrows always loved that particular spot maybe it was the wind, maybe the view, or maybe, more likely, it was the drama that unfolded there almost every day.

"Yo, Aliya, have you seen my toothbrush?" Yuna had just woken up and was standing near the mirror, squinting at his own reflection like it owed him answers.

"No, I haven't," Aliya called back from the kitchen.

"Ahh, did you sell it or something?" he muttered, rifling through a drawer that clearly did not contain a toothbrush.

Then thud, thud, thud.

He felt it before he heard it. Footsteps, fast and irritated.

"Oh, shi.." Aliya appeared in the doorway, hair a mess, patience thinner than usual thanks to the early wake-up call. She'd come to look for the toothbrush herself. But the moment she opened the door, her expression shifted completely.

"Where is your shirt?!"

Apparently, Yuna had forgotten again the sacred rule of not walking around shirtless when she was in the room.

"Where is my toothbrush?" he shot back, entirely unbothered.

"Just put something on already!"

Right on cue, a window in the next building creaked open. "Can you two keep it down?! It's five in the morning, I'm trying to study!"

It was Sean, their neighbor a decent guy, terrible at tests, currently drowning in the horror of a retake scheduled for next week.

"Good morning, Annoyed Neighbor!" Aliya chirped, leaning out her own window with a grin.

"Yeah, whatever. Just don't disturb me," Sean grumbled, not even looking up from his notes.

Then, from the same window, uninvited and shirtless, Yuna popped his head out right next to her. "Yo, Sean, what's up?"

Aliya flinched away from him. "Get away from me, you stink. Ew."

Sean sniffed the air, frowning. "Hey... I think something's burning."

Aliya's face went pale. Her head snapped toward the kitchen. "Oh no the eggs!"

She bolted. Yuna and Sean just watched her disappear.

"Yo, let me go check that too," Yuna said, already peeling away from the window.

Sean said nothing. He simply sighed and went back to his notes, silently grateful for the two seconds of peace.

In the kitchen, Aliya stood frozen, pan in hand, staring down at what used to be eggs and were now something closer to charcoal briquettes.

"Ahh, were you forging them?" Yuna's voice came from directly behind her ear.

"Ahh!" She jumped, whirling around. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Yuna stretched his arms overhead with a groan. "Man, I'm hungry. I haven't even brushed my teeth, and now you've cooked us some charcoal." 

Without further ceremony, he flopped down onto the kitchen floor cold, but clean, and in his professional opinion, comfortable enough.

Aliya let out a long, defeated sigh. "...Let me cook again."

Yuna didn't even bother sitting up. "You mean forge again?"

Without a word, she picked up one of the burnt eggs.

Thunk.

It landed squarely on his forehead.

"...Ow."

"Go take a shower."

"I'm hungry."

"You smell."

"I'm still hungry."

"You also look homeless."

Yuna glanced down at himself no shirt, hair a disaster, a piece of charred egg sliding slowly off his forehead.

"...Fair enough."

He hauled himself up and shuffled toward the bathroom, pausing just long enough to call over his shoulder, "Just make something edible this time!"

A few minutes later, the apartment had finally settled into something resembling peace. Aliya stood at the stove, carefully stirring a pot of carrot soup, silently vowing not to repeat the disaster of an hour ago. The smell actually pleasant, for once drifted through the apartment.

Yuna emerged from the bathroom, towel slung around his neck, hair still dripping. He peered into the pot. "...Carrot soup?"

"It's all we have."

"I wanted something cool."

"You can go eat the charcoal if you'd like."

"...I'll take the soup."

He sat down and finished the entire bowl without leaving so much as a drop behind. Aliya crossed her arms, watching him expectantly. "Well?"

"..."

"...It was good," he admitted.

A proud, slightly smug smile spread across her face the universal expression of someone who had, against all odds, redeemed themselves.

Yuna glanced at the empty bowl. "...Guess you weren't using fire this time."

Silence. Aliya slowly reached for the ladle.

"...Yuna."

"Oh no."

What followed was less a conversation and more a full-apartment chase, Yuna sprinting for the front door with Aliya close behind, ladle raised like a weapon of vengeance.

Outside, Sean looked up briefly from his notes, unfazed. "...Every morning."

On the rooftop, the sparrow chirped once, then settled back down.

Just another perfectly normal day.

To be continued.