15. Banana Pancakes

{Naya}

After we returned from the aquarium, I decided to make Uri's transition from djinni to human my number one priority. I put my laptop to use and signed him up for as many job search databases as I could find. It became my goal to match him to something that would make use of his skills. Skills that I had yet to discover, but I had every intention of finding out what they were.

The next morning, I made him wake up bright and early for some driving practice. Uri begged to stay inside so he could cook a big breakfast instead. I ignored his tempting pleas, even when Ritsu chimed in, and dragged both of them to the garage so that we could get started.

Once we were fastened up in the car, I said, "Your road to domestic survival officially begins. Are you ready?"

Uri didn't hold back a mischievous grin.

+++

{Uriel}

Over the next five days, Naya kept her word. She wouldn't let Uriel come anywhere near the Angry Birds app until after his daily driving practice and lessons on navigating the internet. When he wasn't required to study some mundane task, he played on Naya's phone or watched one of the several juvenile films they had purchased on their trip to Walmart. Ritsu was especially enamored with the animated musicals. Uriel was sure that the monkey had watched the one called Beauty and the Beast no less than thirty-seven times. The monkey would always croon during the ballroom waltz scene serenaded by a personified tea pot.

Although Uriel got breaks in between his lessons, Naya never slowed down in her search for a suitable job for him. Uriel wondered how she could spend so many hours hunched before her laptop, browsing – as she called it – through all of those identical-looking websites.

"Perhaps you gave my mistress too much time when you designed her contract to last a month. At this rate, I doubt she'll need that long," Ritsu whispered to Uriel one day. They were seated on the couch, watching the rolling credits of Shrek.

He decided to ignore the monkey's jab.

Ritsu glanced back across the sofa. Once he saw that Naya was preoccupied on her laptop, he added, "Why the long face when both of you are so close to your freedom?"

Uriel grinded his teeth. "Silence, demon." He traced a pattern of binding letters with his forefinger.

For the rest of the afternoon, Naya kept asking him why Ritsu had suddenly lost his voice.

Despite the monkey's taunts, Uriel knew how unwise it was to care too deeply for the human. If his internal fire were to ensnare her, there would be nothing either of them could do about it. She wouldn't be able to return to her human body and his own temporary form would dissipate. His true form would return and cloak him in that inescapable suit of fire.

Reluctantly, he pictured the horns and cloven feet that came with that suit.

No. Going back is not an option. Not when I'm so close to reclaiming my humanity.

Yet all it took was one look at Naya to stunt his ambition. When he was around her, his mouth made words without his approval. His inner fire romped around like a damned billy goat during the rut. And his resolve . . . he had no idea where the hell it wandered off to whenever Naya came near.

Uriel hadn't been able to hide what had almost happened at the aquarium. Ritsu had known exactly what he was doing when he interrupted them. Later on, the monkey scolded Uriel about it.

"You are perhaps the densest djinni I've ever met! Can't you control your emotions long enough to see that the closer you get to her, the more at risk you both become? Think of what will happen if a collector ever got their hands on Naya! Just think of what they would do to her."

Ritsu did not need to go into detail. Uriel was very aware of the unspeakable things that would happen. Things that Naya would have to endure for all eternity. And there would be nothing that he could do because he would be in chains too.

After the aquarium, Uriel made a promise to himself that he would no longer be reckless when it came to Naya. He couldn't let himself be alone with her and he had to quit touching her. Naya herself was so caught up in preparing him for human-hood that she didn't seem to notice him pulling back. Still, he could have sworn she caught him staring at her when he should have been playing Angry Birds. She shook her head at him and said, "You should really find a hobby, Uri."

And that gave him an idea.

+++

{Naya}

Waiter

Janitor

Dog walker

Postman

Runway Model

I stared at the list of possible jobs I had chalked up for Uri. I had spent the last five days trying to figure out reasonable areas of work for him to start out. Today I wrote model as a joke, but after stealing a glance at him as he passed me, I decided to leave it on there. Uri was lean, not too muscular, and handsome enough to make any modeling agency go gaga.

We'll work our way up to that, I reminded myself. Then I got to work on some potential resumes. Like always, I had let time get ahead of me and before I realized it, it was dark outside. But the lack of sunlight wasn't what pulled my attention away from the computer screen.

Uri was standing before me on the other side of the kitchen island. He had one of his goofy (yet undeniably irresistible) grins plastered across his face.

I shutdown my laptop. "Time for bed?"

"As if." Uri reached over and removed my device from the counter. "We both know that as soon as you get inside your bowl, you're on this thing again."

"To help you!"

"You need to relax," Uri insisted.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to faint again."

For a moment, I thought that Uri would use my full name to make me bend. That or reach over and tug my hair. Instead, he simply set my laptop to the side and said, "It's Friday. Let's take a break. Watch a movie together or something."

The thought of that did sound much better than staying up all night checking for job openings and building resumes.

I propped my elbows on the counter and leaned forward. "And what movie did you have in mind? Beauty and the Beast is off limits just so you know."

"There's isn't a chance in hell that I would pick that," Uri snorted.

Somewhere near the couch I thought I heard Ritsu mutter, "Stingy, heartless djinn . . ."

I made a suggestion. "We haven't watched that one Pixar movie yet. Come on."

I pushed myself away from the counter and went to set up the DVD player. I could hear Uriel trail behind me and plop down on the sofa.

"Pixar?" he repeated.

Once the disc was in the player, I swept up the remote and turned on the TV.

"The movie is called Ratatouille. It's by the same company that made the movie with the talking toys."

Uri's voice brightened. "Oh, I did like that one."

Once everything was set up, I took my seat next to Uri and without thinking, assumed a horizontal position. To my surprise, Uri flinched when my head hit his lap. I could tell that it wasn't the good kind of flinching.

"Does this make you uncomfortable?" I asked, rolling over to meet his gaze. I don't know if it was my imagination, but I could have sworn I saw Ritsu cut his eyes at Uri. I poked Ritsu's black and white chest and teased, "Jealous?"

"I thought I made it clear that I wasn't attracted to ugly women."

I seized him by the neck and hurled him away from the couch. Uri took the opportunity to slide his body from under mine and loop his arms around my waist. In a matter of seconds, we were spooning as if we were bears in hibernation. I couldn't help the sharp intake of breath that escaped me or the burning in my gut when Uri whispered in my ear, "This is much better."

How is it that after five days of literally zero romantic exchanges, we had somehow ended up cuddling? Whatever this was between Uri and me, there was no way I was trying to fight it. Not even when his hand grazed over my exposed torso – no thanks to my subconscious need to wear crop tops everyday.

I willed the tension to leave my body so I could snuggle harder against him and get as comfortable as possible. Uri grunted in agreement, but a threatening growl came from the discarded Ritsu.

I ignored both of them and tried to focus on the movie. I think I might have dozed off on the part where the rat ate the cheese.

+++

{Uriel}

Uriel used the frying pan to flip the pancake exactly how he saw the man do it on the Youtube video.

Youtube, he mused, another fascinating development used to occupy time.

He thought back to the day when Naya had shown him how to navigate the site and how he had spent the rest of the afternoon watching cooking tutorials and culinary-related reality TV shows.

Uriel flipped the pancake a few more times, wondering why the chef in the video claimed that this was the "tricky part" because Uriel was fairly certain that it wasn't.

Once the surface had turned a golden brown, he deposited it on a broad plate. He paused for a moment and stared at the dish, noticing how the color of the pancakes almost matched Naya's skin tone.

His thoughts led him back to last night. Naya had fallen asleep shortly after the movie began. Naturally, Uriel had taken the opportunity to observe her at close range. He watched the muscles in her face relax and her lips expand – as if they weren't full enough already.

Those lips of hers were more than just kissable. They looked as if they possessed all sorts of . . . purposes. As if it was a sin to fantasize, Uriel switched his focus onto something else.

Naya's hair could be best described as wild midnight, with curls and coils falling and flying about her head like a halo with a life of its own. And thanks to her contract, the ends were tinged with turquoise – the same color of her faint, yet steadily pulsing inner fire.

During his long reverie, Uriel had gone into autopilot and washed out the frying pan. Now that the pancakes were done, it was time to prepare the eggs.

+++

{Naya}

I rolled over and felt a happy sigh leave my lips. When I inhaled my next breath, an indescribably wonderful aroma blessed my nasal cavity.

I sat upright on the couch and glanced around. Ritsu was stretched across the headrest of the sofa like it was a tree branch. He was still fast asleep.

Uri, however, was in the kitchen – with smoke wafting up from the stove. The last time I checked, Uri hadn't touched a kitchen appliance in his life.

I have to get to him before he burns down the apartment!

I cursed myself for not giving him a lesson on basic safety precautions in the kitchen, but since neither of us needed to eat, it never crossed my mind.

"Uri, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Uri calmly turned away from the stove while holding up a skillet. Whatever was sizzling inside slipped out and landed perfectly on a plate set to the side. I couldn't tell if that was on accident or on purpose because Uri wasn't even looking down.

He fixed his innocent eyes on me and said, "Making banana pancakes."

I had to force myself to take a moment to assess the situation. There was no fire, no charred food, and not enough smoke to signal any kind of alarm. The only evidence of Uri's kitchen shenanigans was a plate with three separate piles – pancakes, eggs, and fruit salad.

I blinked.

That looks gourmet!

"Uri, what –"

"I promised to make them for you, remember? Banana pancakes. They're your favorite, right?"

While he spoke, he prepared a plate for me. I took a seat at the bar, still in awe at the tantalizing smells and overall flawless presentation.

Uri garnished the eggs with scallions and dropped a dollop of cottage cheese on the fruit before setting the dish in front of me. He handed me some cutlery and without another word, I dug in.

"Oh my God," I groaned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing! This is delicious . . . . Did you use magic to make this?"

Uri's face reddened. "Of course not."

I apologized. "I didn't mean it like that. I had no idea that you knew how to cook like this."

"Like what?" He cocked his head to the side. "Naya, all I did was copy the man in the how-to video. Actually, now that you mention it, I did deviate a little from the tutorial. I didn't agree with how long he said to whip the eggs."

Uri thoughtfully tasted his own food while he contemplated his process, as if he were solving a mathematical proof.

That was when it hit me.

"Uri," I said, my voice thick.

"Hm?"

"You . . . you can cook."

"I can follow instructions," he corrected.

I shook my head. "No, you don't realize how talented you are. People can't pull off dishes like this so well on their first try. And you didn't have to use any magic. Do you know what this means?"

The answer to all of my problems!

"Uri, I could kiss you right now!"

"Don't!" Ritsu squeaked from the couch. His sleep was disrupted so suddenly that he capsized onto the floor.

Uri's next question pulled my attention away from the monkey. "I'm not sure I understand. How can cooking be useful other than to feed myself when I become human?"

My mind was already bubbling with possibilities. I shovelled in a few mouthfuls of my breakfast before explaining.

"Uri, with the money that we put in your savings account, we can enroll you in culinary school! It's not a job, but as soon as you graduate, I'm sure you'll be able to find one without a problem. Atlanta has a ton of opportunities for licensed chefs."

I paused to see Uri's reaction. He pouted. "Do I have to go to school?"

I giggled, "Yes, Uri, you do. As talented as you are, you need to learn the business and have some kind of document that proves your skill."

Uri thought about it for a moment.

"Can you come with me?"

I rolled my eyes. Something told me that my job was only going to get more complicated from here on out.