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Slightly crooked and hanging to the wall by four nails, is Nadia’s housewarming gift to the boys, a Le Creuset cast iron skillet. The welcome this gift received from the new home owners was comparable to a child receiving socks for Christmas. She knew the boys would not understand the prestige behind the brand name and craftsmanship. After all they had all grown up only able to hold second-hand items.
Kong couldn’t possibly know when he was pretending to smash Shorter’s face with the handle that the weight of the iron not only would kill her younger brother, but would help steady his hand to perfectly flip around a small batch of stir fry. When Ash sized it up in his hands to see if it would make a makeshift baseball bat, he lacked the desire to run his hand along the baby blue paint on the outside that soaked in heat from the burners like the blacktop in summer. Nadia knew how her gift would be viewed, but they deserved something nice. Even if it ended up as a display above the stove.
Ash adjusted his glasses at the kitchen table, while Skipper sorted through the homework he was assigned for the week. Being that it was Friday afternoon, the house was relatively empty. Bones, Kong, and Shorter were in their last class, astronomy, for the day. Alex was at his newest girlfriend’s house probably sucking her face off and telling her the same cheesy lines he told the last girl. Eiji was the only other one home and he was a few feet away lounging on the couch watching Survivor reruns. His latest American TV show binge.
Skipper came by every Friday around three to have a study session with Ash. Kong, his cousin, was a fantastic English and history tutor, but Ash was the math prodigy and was more than willing to help the middle schooler for a few hours after school ended. Skipper would usually end up staying for dinner once everyone was back and would be among company that was lacking at home.
“They finally got you doing equations,” Ash said, looking down at the worksheet Skipper handed off to him. “I miss doing these. Once you understand the order of operations, this will be cake for ya’.”
Skipper looked up at Ash excited. “That’s what teach said.”
“You understand the operations or do you need a review?” Ash asked. “You know the phrase everyone uses, right?”
“Please excuse my dear Aunt---,” Skipper had begun, but his stomach growled and he quickly put his hands on it, his cheeks going red.
Eiji, attentive to every damn person who walks through the front door, popped his head up and looks over at the two. Ash noted he must have been running his hand through his hair because it looked fluffed up more than usual. “Are you hungry Skip?” Eiji questioned, brushing his bangs away from his eyes. “We still have three more hours before the guys get home. I can make you a snack before we order pizza?”
“Oh, if you don’t mind,” Skipper said. “I ditched on breakfast. Then at lunch they let us eat outside and some classmates were playing football, so you know.”
Eiji’s eyes found Ash’s from across the room. Skipper was still too young to see how obvious his lies came out, especially when he ended them with the same phrase every time.
The boy wasn’t necessary from a broken home, but little hints revealed that Skipper’s parents were working day and night to keep him in the town’s local private school. Occasionally, there would be mentions of his mom forgetting to leave money on the counter or Skipper not wanting to leave Ash’s because there would be no one at home until late in the night. Ash knew that feeling well from his own childhood, but there was no private school or money left behind for him in his story.
Ash watched Eiji get up from the couch and make his way out of the living room area into the kitchen. Trying to ignore the pull in his chest to follow every time Eiji moved throughout the house. The two of them were inseparable. When the pull left Ash, it was almost like it came onto Eiji, who would show up at Ash’s side a moment later. He had never felt this with anyone before and wasn’t sure how to interpret this new feeling.
Eiji opened the pantry with a resounding squeak from the door hinges and seemed to not find much inside. They had just done a grocery run last weekend. Damn, they would need to save up more money for food then.
“So, it looks like we only have pancake mix and macaroni-cheese pasta,” Eiji said to Skipper.
“Macaroni ‘s good.”
“Out of butter, Kong used it to melt over popcorn Tuesday night.”
“The entire stick??”
“Woah that’s awesome!”
“Yeah you know how Kong and Alex like to drink butter while they eat popcorn.”
“Ash, I really think we need to stop going through eight sticks of butter in one week.”
“Not my problem, “Ash shrugged, “When they die at the age of forty from clogged arteries that’s on them.”
“Can butter really do that,” said Skipper, staring in wonder at Ash.
Ash smirked.
“I bet your cuz’s life on it Skip.”
“Ash!”
Left with no other option, Eiji took out the pancake box and got out a mixing bowl from the cabinet above the sink. Meanwhile, Ash pulled Skipper back into his algebra homework to see where the boy was struggling. It seemed Skipper understood the basics, but when it came to adding exponents to an equation he panicked and over thought the problem. Nothing Professor Callenreese couldn’t fix.
“Who was in charge of dishes today,” Eiji interrupted five minutes later with a hint of frustration, while mixing the batter. “The two pans we have are buried under stacks of dirty dishes.”
“That would-be lover boy.”
Eiji sighed, “Fine, he gets a free pass. I know he was excited about seeing his new girlfriend today.”
“Sure, give him a free pass, but the moment I forget to do the laundry I get nagged all day.” Ash said, rolling his eyes at his roommate.
Skipper watched the two go back and forth for a minute, taking in the flush that spread over Eiji’s face when Ash mentioned how many boxers he had to wash a week. Eiji tried to defend himself by explaining it was from running every morning and practice, but from the bright smile Skipper rarely saw on Ash’s face, it looked like the point went to his tutor.
Then Skipper noticed the skillet hanging on the wall and pointed over at it.
“What about that thing?”
“I completely forgot about that pan!” Eiji said, taking the opportunity to turn away from Ash, who had left the table and prowled over to tease him more. “Nadia gave this to use three years ago when we first moved in.”
Taking care to move the handle off the now rusted nails, Eiji set the skillet above the dirty dishes and rinsed it out. Ash waved Skipper over and handed him a spatula he had grabbed from the drain board. The one item that was washed besides the salad spinner Shorter uses for drying his rubber ear bud tips, which now that Ash thought about it, was kind of gross.
“Let’s take a break from information you will never use in your life and teach you some life skills, kid.”
Skipper grabbed the spatula and bounded over to Eiji, setting the skillet down on the stove. “Hell-yeah boss!”
Ash gathered a plate and the small container of olive oil and headed back over to the two where Eiji was teaching Skipper where to set the flame height. Skipper looked entranced as Eiji poured a little circle of olive oil and watched it expand in the skillet. Then Eiji handed the bowl of batter over to the young boy. “Pour carefully, this should be enough to make you five medium sized pancakes. There, like that. Perfect Skip!”
The first pancake was in and bubbling in seconds. Eiji lowered the heat a little from seeing the bubbles so fast. He didn’t want the pancakes to cook too quickly on the outside and still be raw for Skipper inside. While Eiji helped Skipper set the spatula under the pancake, Ash snuck a picture of the two and sent it to Kong.
“Okay and flip!” Eiji cheered beside Skipper, who lifted the thin cake circle up and gave a quick flick to turn it over. The pancake ended up on the complete opposite side of the skillet, but what really puzzled the two chefs was that the original bottom of the pancake had separated from the top and clung to the pan where they had first poured. “Skipper, can I see the spatula for a second?”
“Did. Did I mess up?” Skipper asked, looking between the two adults.
“No, no—.”
“Eiji, what are you teaching him?” Ash jumped in. He leaned over the skillet with Eiji who tried lifting the original bottom piece. Small pieces came off, but others continued to stick and the smell of burnt food began to fill the kitchen.
“Ah! Why are they sticking?!” Eiji was jabbing at the pieces with a panicked force. “Ash they never stick like this!”
“Something is wrong with this shitty pan.” Ash said, coming up along Eiji and covering his roommate’s hand over the spatula with his own. The two worked on trying to lift the pancakes up and Skipper had front row seats to the disaster.
He backed up and watched on in horror, as the skillet was shoved further back on the stove, coming off the burner. Then he saw from the corner of his eye Eiji reach for the handle to right it. At the same time, Ash and Skipper shouted at their friend, yet Eiji in blind confusion, had already closed his hand around it.
A sharp, quick scream filled the room. Skipper ran back over to them and stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, Ash dropped the spatula and grabbed at Eiji’s arm. Between the backward force of Eiji rapidly taking his hand off the handle and Ash pulling him back, the skillet went with them and tipped over the edge of the stove right toward Eiji’s feet.
“Shit.”
Ash, without a second thought, released Eiji and dove at the burning cast iron, catching it with both hands. The sensation of fire coursed its way up his hands into his arms, as he broke out into a sweat from the roaring pain. Throwing the pan down and hearing it crack the kitchen tile, Ash fell onto his backside.
“Ash! Are you okay?!” Eiji cried.
The blonde used his elbows to push up and, once back on his feet, sandwiched Eiji between the sink and himself. Ignoring the pain from using his hand to turn the tap on, he wrapped his arms around the raven-haired boy, took his hand, and shoved it under the water along with his own.
“Skip. Ice,” he barked out.
Skipper snapped into action at the harsh tone and ran over to the freezer to get the ice tray.
“Ash this hurts,” Eiji said, trying to move his hand away from the water flow.
“Shh, I know, but it will help,” Ash tried to keep an even voice, but found himself panting with his forehead coming to rest on the back of Eiji’s neck. “Skip, you can just pop the ice into our hands.”
“Got it!”
Skipper went toward the sink and tried as gently as he could to place the ice over their palms without letting the water flow take the ice into the filthy dishes. However, when the first cube went on, a feeling of guilt went through Skipper at the sound of Eiji whimpering from the rapid change in temperature. He looked up at the two and saw tears pricking both their eyes. Eiji was a sappy movie crier, so he got to witness that once a month for movie night with the guys, but this was definitely not the way he pictured seeing Ash cry for the first time.
Even though their hands were still throbbing, Ash wanted to get burn cream on them soon. Hoping Eiji was too in the moment to notice the light kiss he placed on his neck, he pulled away and moved toward Skipper.
“In the hall bathroom, there is an ugly brown bag with Kermit the Frog on it. Can you grab that for me kid?”
Skipper nodded and disappeared around the corner to go save his tutor and…friend? He wasn’t sure if his eyes deceived him when he could have sworn he saw Ash kissing Eiji’s neck. That was new.
Once Skipper was out of sight, Ash turned the faucet off and looked over at his red-eyed mess of a roommate. “Let’s just order the fucking pizza now.”
Nadia woke to the sound of her phone pinging. Only three people could bypass the do not disturb she set and one of them was in bed with her while the other two were thirty six miles away, always making trouble together. “I wonder what those two need at this hour.”
Lifting from her side, her arm numb from sleeping on it, she took her phone off the charging port and unlocked the screen to a text from her brother with an attached photo.
Shorter Wong: we used your pan Sis and Ash almost burned his hand off. come over tomorrow and clean please. burnt pancake is all over it!!
“Pan? What pan?”
Nadia scrolled to the attached photo and blew it up, squinted at how much brighter it made the screen. When her eyes adjusted, she felt her heart rate pick up, not so much at Ash with gauze wrapped around his hands, grinning for the photo. That was a monthly occurrence. Though seeing Eiji in the background with his hand wrapped as well, was a shock. That boy had more brains than the entire rest of the house put together. Ash must be rubbing off on him. Instead she sat up and shook Charlie awake, tears already gathering and spilling down her face.
Charlie turned over and looked at his wife, going from exhausted to fully awake at the sound of her crying. “Nadia honey, what’s wrong?” Charlie whispered in alarm. “Is it your brother? Is he okay?”
Nadia used her wrist to wipe at the tears and looked back at Charlie.
“They did it,” she said, relief and satisfaction in her voice. “After three years, they finally used the Le Creuset.”