The Seamster and The Demon

6. Pancakes

Hongjoong had insisted on keeping Seonghwa company while he made food. The two of them had left Seonghwa's study about half an hour before Yunho's shift ended, and he would presumably bring Wooyoung home. By the time they arrived in the kitchen and Hongjoong sprinted over to one of the chairs to perch on it and be out of Seonghwa's way patiently, Seonghwa again rubbed his face in stress.

He had forgotten to call a mechanic in all this time he had spent at home. By now, their working hours had ended, so he would have to do it tomorrow. Maybe he would leave Wooyoung home from kindergarten for a day.

With a sigh, he brushed the feeling of incompetence off. Hongjoong remained oblivious.

"Can I help you?"

Seonghwa reached into the fridge to get the carton of eggs that Hongjoong specifically set aside for dinner. The demon's face showed sorrow when he watched Seonghwa take them away, but he swallowed his comments. His little hands fidgeted with the walrus he had built from legos while Seonghwa rolled up his sleeves.

"I'm afraid that no matter what you help me with, you'll have to watch your precious eggs get cooked. Can you bear that?"

Hongjoong huffed. His eyes flicked around the kitchen insecurely for a second, but then he nodded. Seonghwa supposed that this was him actually pulling his weight. After all Yeosang had said on that weird first evening that already felt as if it had been ages ago, Seonghwa hadn't expected much given that Hongjoong still was a demon, but at least their rules actually applied to him. Maybe Seonghwa had been lucky in the choice of demon that had landed on his premises.

"Have you ever needed to divide eggs before?"

Hongjoong tried very hard to school his expression into a neutral level that didn't convey sheer disgust. Seonghwa found it amusing that whatever importance eggs had to demons, it clearly didn't align with what humans did to them.

"I can do that."

With the demon busied by his task and his walrus watching on from beside him, Seonghwa returned to his pan. He found it not in the cupboard that it usually was in but in the oven instead. After one long look at the confused item, he put it on the stove.

"You must really like eggs. Are all demons like that?"

Seonghwa didn't need to turn to notice Hongjoong struggle with the eggs. In between his juggling, he sometimes licked sticky remnants off his fingers.

"Yes, we love them. You humans have tons of weird food, but eggs hold all the nutrients one could ask for. I learned that humans who live healthily also use them a lot."

So not the bodies of the unborn, after all. Seonghwa had been a fool to believe that.

"You know a lot about humans. Far more than we know of demons."

"Well, it's not my first time on earth, and the sole sense of purpose for my kin is to heed the calls of people. Humans supply us with life, and we supply them with whatever needless material thing they desire."

Casually, Seonghwa stirred some cinnamon into his batter. Wooyoung adored the slight note of it in his pancakes, but so far, he hadn't figured out what it was. Seonghwa kept telling him that it was a secret only a dad turned master chef could ever know. The awe in Wooyoung's eyes was worth every lie.

"And is it fun? Do you like doing this?"

Once Hongjoong was finished with dividing, Seonghwa took the yolks from him to mix them in. He instructed his demon helper to stir the rest and to stop snacking on the side.

"It's fine. As I said, we do this for work, and usually, we get something nice out of it. By hierarchy, we are normally perceived as the stronger race and more powerful participant of the contract. Things rarely go wrong, but for some of my brothers and sisters, the sense of respect is actually quite helpful in their development. If you want to learn more about it, you could ask Yeosang about a book."