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Medusa adjusted the sunglasses Sally had gotten her recently as she entered the kitchen. Percy was ten now, and soon they'd have to send him to camp. They knew that. The last thing Medusa wanted was her step-son in danger. Neither of them were looking forward to it though. Perhaps that was why they had so easily accepted Percy's request to try and bake a cake in the diner kitchen.
There were two big problems with it that they should have considered. The diner kitchen was not designed with baking in mind, it was designed with fast foods in mind. The other problem? Percy was still awful at baking. Between Medusa and Sally the young boy had had many lessons, he was just yet to pick anything up. Somehow his cakes always turned out wrong.
Percy was bouncing around the kitchen, already in his apron. Not the apron would be very useful. He was always more hyper in the kitchen, especially if both Medusa and Sally were there. She was going to have spent the evening cleaning the kitchen, again. Medusa didn't mind really, it was just a sign she'd survived to have a family of her own. It was a sign she was loved, and she loved in return.
"What are we making then?" Sally asked as Medusa leant against the doorway.
"Let me guess," she said, tapping her chin. Percy laughed at that. "Blue," she trailed off.
"Cupcakes!" Percy said.
"What flavour is blue?" Sally asked. Percy hummed.
"Caramel," he decided. Sally and Medusa looked to each other and shrugged. Sure, why not?
"Salted, or normal?" Medusa asked.
"Salted," he said happily. Medusa nodded and turned to the large pantry. She'd started keeping more baking supplies in there specifically for Percy. Percy came over to help. Once they had everything on the counter, Sally ran through the ingredients list to make sure they hadn't missed anything.
"Sugar?" she asked. Percy tapped the back and nodded. "Butter?" she asked. He poked the tub and hummed in confirmation. "Self raising flour?" she asked. Percy poked the bag, just a little to hard because he knocked it over. Medusa sighed as a cloud of flour went up from where it had landed.
"Whoops," he said, rushing to fix it. The fates must have cursed him in the kitchen because the bag had a large rip down the side and most of the flour ended up on the side. Sally sighed and Medusa wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry a little. Things had already gone so badly.
"Ok, let's move everything to a different part of the counter, clean that up, and get some new flour," Sally said. Percy nodded and helped her carry things over. Medusa cleared up the flour. She preferred to be the one to clean the kitchen. Even from Percy's messes. The diner was hers, and that meant it was hers to clean and maintain. She liked feeling like she had control over something. Medusa had let Percy and Sally into the diner, into the main room and they could help out there, but she needed an area that was hers to deal with.
Once the counter was cleaned, Medusa joined Sally and Percy in weighing out all the ingredients. They were making progress, just the flour to go. They'd left that till last, mostly because of what had just happened. Percy didn't cause any problems with the second bag of flour, which was a relief. Once everything was sorted into bowls, which really it didn't need to be done like that it was just better to do it that way with Percy, they put the ingredients away. Everything except the caramel flavouring and the salt.
"This is fun," Percy said, as he helped Medusa in the pantry. She smiled at him, pushing her sunglasses up to make sure they stayed over her eyes. Her biggest fear these days was accidentally causing harm to Percy or Sally.
"It is," she agreed. They headed out into the kitchen and Sally smiled at them. The bowls were lined up in order of when they were needed. Medusa had hope that this time the cakes would work.
The cupcakes did not work. No one really knew why. They'd done everything correctly. They'd come out unrisen and far too chewy. Percy was sad about it, so Medusa shooed both the Jacksons out of the kitchen so she could make him the cupcakes he wanted. She couldn't say no to Percy, especially not when he looked so upset about it all.