Disclaimer-I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor any characters
I'm so, so sorry for the lateness (and shortness) of this, but here it is!
Written for the fourth round of the Capture the Flag Competition in Percy Jackson Fanfiction Challenges
"Dishes," Silena hissed with distaste, critically examining her fingernails. "They're bad enough at home, but this is supposed to be summer camp!"
"A summer camp where we learn how to fight Ancient Greek legends," Beckendorf pointed out as he flexed his fingers under the heavy duty gloves. "I think dishes is pretty normal, to be honest. You know, besides the lava."
"Hey, don't get smart with me. You're supposed to be the strong, silent type." She sighed, pausing to tie her hair up before carefully selecting a pair of gloves.
"If I'm strong and silent, who gets to be sarcastic?" He was biding his time before they had to descend into the depths of the Big House kitchen, which was steamy from the dish lava.
"I don't know." Silena shrugged. "The Stoll brothers."
"Should I be offended?"
"Yes."
He held the door before she sighed and, waving away the steam in front of her, ducked into the next room. Beckendorf followed dutifully behind her as they approached the big sinks, currently crowded by gloveless harpies calmly sticking their hands into the burning lava. They cleaned efficiently, an assembly line of chicken ladies doing ten dishes a minute.
"No holes in your gloves?" he muttered to Silena, as they took up shop in one of the first sinks. Piles of dishes with the remnants of nearly a hundred campers' meals were stacked next to them, covering most of the large countertop.
"Well, now you've got me worried," she replied out of the corner of her mouth, quite aware of the silence from the harpies, save for the clanks of dish against dish and the angry hiss of lava. Still she rubbed her hands together in an effort to delay the inevitable lava up to her elbows.
"Sorry," Beckendorf said, picking up a dish and a cloth. "Is this going to burn, or…?"
Silena shrugged. "Probably not."
They were silent for a few minutes, busy with the task of trying not to get burned by the molten dishwater. Silena would later swear that she was never touching a plate of mangled cherry pie without thinking of the way it burned off of a china plate.
"This has to be incredibly dangerous. I don't even know why they've got campers doing this. Aren't they supposed to be trying to keep us safe?" Silena turned to Beckendorf, being careful not to dip the dishes too deep into the sink.
"I don't think it's exactly normal punishment. It's not every day two campers sneak away from capture the flag to make out."
Silena rolled her eyes. "Well, it was your idea."
"It was yours. I had you prisoner, remember? Pretty sure you didn't want to get tied to a tree."
She adopted a ridiculous pose, the kind Drew used to attempt to impress the Apollo boys when they played basketball in the summer heat. Of course, with her added voice, it usually worked, much to Silena's displeasure. Her younger half-sibling was going to learn that love isn't something to play with, and it was going to hit her hard. Silena blinked her eyes, smiling.
"Actually, I believe I was just a damsel in distress being led away by her dashing keeper."
"Uh, I think that's Stockholm Syndrome."
"Yeah, that was bad, wasn't it?" Silena said, shrugging.
Beckendorf gave an amused grin and a nod, reaching over her to grab a bowl. Unknowingly during her display, Silena had taken a few steps forward, putting him just out of reach. His fingers just barely touched the brim of the bowl, but he pulled anyway, sending it toppling into the sink full of lava. The unstable plates under began to teeter, and it was lucky that Silena dragged Beckendorf away from the sink as lava splashed over the side, spreading out over the kitchen tiles and hissing against the wallpaper behind the sink.
"Charlie!" Silena yelled, glaring at her boyfriend, who was watching the flowing lava with wide eyes, oblivious to the harpies' tsks in the background. "You could've killed us!"
"It's burning. Oh my gods, Silena, we just started a fire in the Big House!" The wallpaper was starting to curl up, blackened pieces drifting almost lazily to the spitting mass of fire below.
"You started a fire in the Big House!" Silena corrected, pulling on his arm. The harpies were starting to close in on the fire, clicking their tongues in distaste.
"Look what they've done! Oh, such a mess."
"More to clean for us, as always."
"Maybe we'll get to eat them as consolation."
"The poor wallpaper! Wonder who'll have to fix that."
"Us, probably."
They stood around the fire, shouting their bitter, though, probably justified, grievances at each other as the lava spread around their feet.
"Um," Silena said, hands held cautiously away from her body. "Do you think we should get Chiron?"
"Yeah," he said decisively. "We should go now. You know, before the harpies…"
But Silena was already pulling him to the door, away from the already raging fire.
At least after the incident Chiron agreed he wouldn't put them on dish duty again.