I wanted to write something to celebrate the first episode of the anime, which naturally means I wrote something set about 500 chapters later. Featuring Evankhell, who is only mentioned by name in the first season.

Takes place during that time gap in season 3 chapter 51, I guess. Before FUG attacks the Nest. Might be some minor discrepancies, because I'm the type of person who chooses posting fics over sleeping and proper editing, haha.

Something in the kitchen is on fire.

Yu Hansung has grown so accustomed to the smell of smoke, of fire and charcoal and ash, that he almost doesn't notice it now. It seems impossible, with how cramped their living quarters are lately - his instant coffee machine is tucked between the fridge and the oven. The only space for it was on top of their microwave, and it uses the same outlet that Khun has reserved for his hair straightener, for some reason - but it's the truth. He almost doesn't notice when Rak, who sleeps in the room next to his, wakes up at exactly midnight every night to raid the fridge either.

The operating word here is "almost". It takes a few minutes longer than it used to, but he does notice. Eventually.

The smell of smoke hits his nose once more, and he glances over to where Evankhell is standing in front of the stove, frowning. He tries to remember what she was doing specifically, and only recalls the clanking of pots and spoons being pulled from the ship's cupboards, a rustling noise coming from the fridge. But from the scene in front of him, it's easy enough to surmise what has happened.

"Another cooking experiment gone wrong?" Hansung sighs.

"It wasn't an experiment."

"Of course, Lord Evankhell."

Evankhell is an amazing warrior, kind of a great boss, but when it comes to anything domestic, she's hopeless. She's the reason why Hansung was cooking and cleaning enough for two people until last week.

At some point, Viole had finally noticed Hansung had been working double duties all this time. Then he and Karaka and Khun and Hwa Ryun had gotten together and rewritten the chore chart, and now everyone else had a little more work and Evankhell had a lot less. Hansung had appreciated the sentiment just enough to avoid telling them it was pointless, because Lord Evankhell did whatever the hell she wanted anyway.

And in this instance, she'd apparently wanted…

"Pork is just, it's harder to cook than it looks."

Wanted to make pork cutlets for dinner. Of course. Yu Hansung sipped from his coffee cup, wary of the fact that they were probably going to be eating plain rice with soy sauce for dinner again tonight. Karaka, who'd been on cooking duty last night, was arguably just as bad at cooking as Evankhell. He wondered how either of them managed to avoid starvation when they were off doing solo missions. Taking off that armored suit probably would have helped, in Karaka's case.

"Perhaps next time," Hansung replied, pausing for another sip, "I can cook the meat and you can handle the sauce? Or prepare the rice?"

"Rice takes too long to cook," Evankhell replied.

He chuckled in response, because what else was there to do? "Right. I'll ask Hwa Ryun to invest in a rice cooker."

Hansung was actually the person in charge of most of the ship's finances and inventory. Even if Hwa Ryun were in charge, she probably would've complained about being a Guide and not an accountant, and then agreed with him. Rice wasn't hard to cook, and the pots they had on hand were already big enough to feed a small army of people.

The exact details, however, were not any of Evankhell's concern. There were certain trivial things that Evankhell need not trouble herself with.

Let other people muse over the necessity of a rice cooker.

Evankhell sort of grunted in response.

"Even if we buy a rice cooker, we'd still have to wait for the delivery to get here," she says. "And that's not considering the fact that we shouldn't be buying in the first place, because there's an entire army out there waiting for us to give away our location."

"And you would protect us all from their attacks, as you always do," Hansung replies coolly. "Now, there's a thought! We could have Jahad's army delivered right to our doorstep, along with our brand new rice cooker, and get this over with much more quickly."

"Viole and Karaka want to save their teacher," Evankhell replies, missing the point. "And as much as I hate inaction, inviting the entire army to fight us all at once is more than we could reasonably handle."

Her sense of humor has always been lacking.

"Besides, you'd miss out on all the fun."

She also seems to have missed the part where Hansung had volunteered to oversee the Floor of Test because he was a touch lazy, and much preferred drinking hot beverages and bullying Regulars to most forms of physical labor. It's endearing, though, how she attempts to be considerate of him.

"I don't like being useless," she continues, looping back to the original conversation. There's no saving the pork cutlets anymore, so she melts them and the pan they were cooking in - a bit drastic, as far as Hansung is concerned. "And you…"

Evankhell cuts herself off. Hansung mentally adds "articulation" to the short list of things his Lord is bad at.

"I want to help you," she concludes finally, hands making helpless circles in the air.

Helpless.

There's a word Hansung would have never thought he'd be using in conjunction with his boss. Her eyes meet his, and the feeling is reciprocated there, too, and now Hansung has a problem not even instant coffee can solve.

"That's dear of you," Hansung replies.

If it were Quant or Lero-Ro, he probably would have burst out laughing at this instant. But since it's Evankhell and he values his life, he keeps his thoughts to himself, where they'll do him less harm.

"I suppose, if you really want to help out, you could brew my coffee while I do the cooking. It's not hard. You just put a filter in the tray..."

"I know how to make coffee, Hansung."

"Of course. My apologies, Lord Evankhell, but I must have forgotten."

He hasn't forgotten. With his supply of coffee tins limited as it currently is, how could he have possibly forgotten the sheer horror of waking up to his precious coffee pot on fire one morning? Luckily, Hansung always has a spare stashed in his Pocket. Or seven.

"I don't believe you forgot that," Evankhell grunts again.

How astute. She knows exactly what he's thinking about right now, and that he will probably never forget that incident.

"I lit it on fire," she finishes dryly, which gives Hansung - so far as he can tell - permission to laugh in his own dry manner and respond, "Have you ever encountered a problem that you couldn't solve by setting on fire?"

She casts another solemn glance in his direction, and Hansung tells himself the warmth in the pit of his stomach is from the coffee.

The cup is already growing cold in his hands.