Marco had been glad that Em was helping him with cleaning up. Sure, the plates they had been eating on were paper and were going to go in the trash, but all the utensils, pans, and the flat top still needed to be cleaned. Not to mention the piles of those awful plastic plates and bowls that were going to be for use for the camp that clearly hadn’t been cleaned up after being hauled up in whatever vehicle Dobbs drove.
”So, what’s your assessment on the three we don’t know so far? Aster told me his earlier, and well… you know how he is. I want your opinion, the one I really trust.” He looked over to Em, offering her a smile as they both stood there with their elbows in soapy water.
Em hummed thinking about the question.
“Well, I only have an opinion on two of them so far. First, Demi, he seems to be head over heels for the other guy, Zeke right. He was diligent about taking notes and asking questions during the training on the radio. I was impressed. He is a bit of a joker. Probably not the most serious person in the lot, that’s for sure. Seems harmless.” She shrugged slightly at the last part of her assessment about Demi.
“Nancy, I like her. She’s got a bit of a dark humor going. Willing to do some dumb and dangerous things, I think. Though she seems a bit fragile about other things. Definitely do not talk to her about sex. She’s very anti the whole thing. She wants nothing to do with it, which I guess more power to her. But she seems attached as hell to her brother. They got caught with a B&E to make a music video.” ”I knew asking you would be a better result. Aster couldn’t even get Nancy’s name right. Love him, but…” Marco sighed as he thought for a moment.
”Aster did say he helped get Demi and Zeke together, and I had noticed that Demi is very… kinky. As for Nancy, I’ll keep what you said in mind. No sex talk around her. I did notice that with breakfast. Poor girl. I’ll try to have some snacks ready in case she gets hungry.”Marco fished out some utensils and set them to the side and thought.
”You think we can survive a whole week before everyone else gets here?”Em snorted at the comment about Aster. That guy was as self centered as they came. But he was nice to Marco, which was the only reason she had ever given him a chance. If he had been rude to Marco, especially if he had been even the slightest bit racist she would have decked him.
“At least Aster is predictable,” she said with a slight shrug.
“Oh, is he? I noticed the hanky, but you know the code better than me. Is he into water sports?” Em did not like water sports herself. That was definitely not one of her kinks. She was happy to share Marco, and happy with their little things, but that one was gross. Unhygienic.
“As for surviving the week, probably. I don’t think Dobbs was serious. I think he was just telling us an old story. I don’t believe in ghosts. As for us as a group, I think tonight will be the judge of it. If we can survive tonight we’ll be fine.” ”Oh, he’s not into that. Thank goodness. Neither am I, for the record, Em. But apparently, he’s as good as hiding some things as I am~” Marco leaned over to whisper to her and then nipped her ear teasingly.
”Ah, I more meant do you think that the six of us will get along. I don’t believe in the ghost stories either. Though I’m pretty sure grammy would be upset to hear that. She believed in all that hoodoo voodoo stuff. Dad didn’t have the patience for it, so we didn’t keep any of the stuff she sent. Of course she wasn’t a huge fan of me… y’know the whole out of wedlock thing.” Marco rolled his eyes a bit at that as he fished out the spatula he had been using and set it aside.
Em giggled a little at the ear nip, leaning into Marco. She wrinkled her nose at the mention of Marco’s gran.
”Her loss,” she sniffed.
“Oh, I think we should be fine. The camp is big enough that if we need space from each other we can. It is only a week anyway.” She rinsed off her hands from the soapy water and started pulling down the plastic plates that needed attention. She carefully inspected them.
“Are we sure these aren’t a lost cause? This feels kind of gross and sticky.” She held the plate out to Marco.
Marco picked up the plate and then narrowed his eyes a bit. He ran his hand over them and frowned.
”...Fuck.” He knew the feeling well. Growing up poor and using things for eons until they fell apart had taught him this feeling well.
”They’re shot. We need to put them on the list, because there is no way we’re feeding the kids on these once they get here. And no way there’s a budget for paper plates for that long.” “I’ll add it to the list.” She gave Marco a quick kiss on his cheek and went back into the dining area. As she walked she wiped her hands off on her pants so they were dry. At the table she took the paper and pen she had left on the table and wrote down “plates and -”
“Wait, how’s the flatware? Is it sticky too? Should I add it to the list?” She hollered over her shoulder into the kitchen.
”The flatware was fine. They apparently did buy that in metal… but anything plastic I would probably throw out. Ugh…” Marco went to check on the cooking utensils. He pulled out some plastic spatulas as well as some whisks and tossed them in the bins.
”Please add cooking utensils to the list. Fucking hell… too much of this shit was plastic.” Marco groaned as he finished chucking the wasted things in the bins.
“Got it!” She wrote down several specific things she knew Marco liked to have in his kitchen, and then added a generic ‘cookware’ line. After that she rejoined Marco back in the kitchen.
“That bad?” She went over to him and wrapped her arms around him, and rubbed him gently.
“Are you good to make it through the day at least?””There are enough metal tools for just me, but if there are a few of us cooking, there’s going to need to be more. I just… ugh… there are no good whisks. I might have to wait to make gumbo. Might do that mac and cheese, if there’s good cheese in there. Ugh.” Marco nuzzled in close and kissed her on top of her head.
“You'll figure it out.” Em smiled, pressing into the nuzzle and kiss.
“You're a brilliant chef. I'm sure whatever you make will be amazing even if you have to use a fork to wisk.” She pulled back from the embrace and stood up taller to kiss him.
“Now, chef, what's next, or should I call you Aphrodite?” The smile on her face was that of the cat with the canary.
”Mmmm call me that when we’re alone~” He grinned and tugged her in close and kissed her back lovingly and lifted her up a bit and put her on the counter.
”For now, I think I should try to clean more of the pots and pans before lunch. Care to help me or do you want to run off?” “Which one? Or both?” And we are currently alone.” Em grinned, her tone teasing.
“I can stay a bit longer. But I don't wanna put off clearing some of those trails too long. It'll be tough work.” On the counter she kicked her feet a little before wrapping them around Marco.
”Aphrodite, my love~ And thank you. Pots and pans are no joke.” He chuckled as he leaned in to kiss her once more. He was of two minds, one telling him to just sneak in some alone time with his beloved before that night, but the other reminded him that the kitchen probably really hadn’t been cleaned in so long, so, that one won out.
”Does mean we’ll have to let go of one another and go back to cleaning.”Em nodded, she was happy to call him Aphrodite if that made him happy. She did stick out her lower lip in disappointment at having to let go and continue cleaning. She kissed him one more time, lingering, and biting his lip gently.
“Alright, very well.” He shivered a bit as she bit his lip, almost changing his mind but once more remembering that this camp had last been used well before he had been born. He nuzzled Em, and then gently helped her off the counter.
”So do you want to clean, or do you want to collect?”She wrinkled her nose.
“Collect.” Cleaning was fine, but the elbow grease this place needed was more than she wanted to do. She wanted to save that energy for the work outside.
Marco nodded and then went to start filling up the sink once more with clean soapy water.
”Alright then. Sounds good to me. Thank you love.” “Of course.” She hopped off the counter and started gathering things for Marco to wash.
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