The Shame of Grover Underwood (One Shot)

The Shame of Grover Underwood

I own none of the characters, all credit goes to Rick Riordan

Percy sat in his apartment with his longtime best friend, Grover Underwood, in his and Annabeth's apartment in New Rome. Grover had put on the nature channel while Percy was playing a game with his six-year-old daughter, Silena. Annabeth was out shopping with Piper at the Maternity store. Both of them were pregnant and enjoyed going out together and chatting about how their children would grow up together.

Silena and Percy were playing connect four. Percy flipped a black chip over his fingers the same way he used to with Riptide. Silena's grey eyes scanned the board. Percy couldn't help but smile a little. It was insane how much he reminded him of Annabeth. Her eyes flickered for a moment but her face remained unmoving. She placed a chip in the bottom right corner.

"Your move," she said.

Percy, feeling overconfident in his ability to best a six-year-old at Connect four, chuckled and placed his chip in the space right above Silena's. He smiled smugly. "Blocked," he said. "You may as well give up now."

Silena chuckled and pulled a chip out of her pile. "Sorry, but no." she dropped the chip right above Percy's. It lined up with three others going horizontally and another three going diagonally. "Thank you, next," she said.

Percy stared at the board in awe, shocked, but slightly unsurprised, by the fact that his seven-year-old daughter had beaten him, the famous Hero of Olympus, at connect four. Percy swatted the game across the room. "Ugh!" he yelled. "you cheater! you cheated!" he said as he grabbed his daughter and began to tickle her to the point where she was laughing uncontrollably. 

"I did not cheat!" she protested through giggles. "I just paid attention."

"you have your mother's intelligence, therefore, you cheat at life."

Percy got up from the floor and walked over to where Grover was sitting. he snatched the remote from the Satyr's hands and flopped down next to him.

"heeeyy!" Grover complained. "I was watching that!"

Percy ignored him and began flipping through channels. he flipped through quickly and an image flashed on the screen for a split second as it passed. It was a woman with ratty short hair and glazed eyes, lying in a ditch with a large gash in her chest. both Percy and Grover only saw the woman for a split second, but it was enough to recognize the freckled kleptomaniac who had tormented them without mercy

"wait, wait, wait!" Grover said leaning closer. "go back."

Percy clicked back to the channel. it was the news. a live coverage feed showed the body of the woman lying in a ditch with police tape surrounding it. the bottom of the screen read: 'WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN DITCH WITH LARGE GASH IN CHEST. POSSIBLY MADE BY AN ANIMAL'

Percy and Grover exchanged looks. that was no animal. that was a monster. 

"the woman has been identified as Nancy Bobofit, the known criminal. she appears to have a large gash in her chest that looks like it was put there by an animal." the reporter said. 

Grover felt a pang of guilt. Nancy Bobofit was dead. killed by a monster. and it was his fault.

"dam, remember when she used to pick on us back at Yancy? when she threw peanut butter in your hair?"

Grover chuckled uneasily. "heheh, yeah."

"I mean, I get that she was killed by a monster and everything, but she kinda had it comin, don't you think?"

Grover said nothing. he sat there silently as a terrible pain shifted around in his stomach. 

"man am I glad that you found me at Grover. who knows where I would be if you didn't. probably in a ditch like Nancy." Percy said as he pat Grover on the shoulder.