FINDING A HOME | PJO

/ six /

Nancy looked from left to right, her eyes roaming over the different species and demigods as she made her way towards the mass of trees in front of her.

Despite her previous eagerness to make amends with Grover Underwood, her mind swam with every way this could go wrong. Things like how it was almost time for breakfast.

But her first worry was simply finding the curly haired boy. She knew from Annabeth's tour yesterday that going too deep into the forest as an untrained demigod would not go well. Heck, she didn't even know what kind of training that included, but was smart enough to get the point.

For a few moments, she hovered at the entrance to the thick group of trees, second guessing herself.

I found a home, Nancy.

Percy's words hacked at her brain, sending a wave of guilt at Nancy. If she planned to start over, if she wanted things to be different, she had to do this.

Nancy took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"I'll come by later, Juni!"

The voice froze Nancy. At first, she had physically jolted from the sudden appearance of it, but she soon realized it was the voice of a human. . .or demigod. And it was awfully familiar.

As a figure came from behind a group of bushes, the first thing that registered was his face.Grover looked pretty much the same, although the usual red blotches that plagued his face were at a minimal. His curly hair was still the same length, if Nancy remembered right, and his chocolatey brown eyes sparkled with delight.

That is, until he noticed her.

"Hi?" he said, uttering it more as a question rather than a greeting.

But Nancy wasn't paying attention to the way his eyes studied her carefully, and didn't notice when a look of recognition conquered his features. Her vision had tunneled when she'd looked beneath his face.

Eyes wide, she took a step back.

"Nancy? Nancy Bobofit?"

Nancy shook her head, swallowing hard. She avoided looking at the horns jutting from his unruly hair when she muttered, "You're one of those goat thingies."

Grover didn't say anything for a long time, and Nancy couldn't bring herself to look at his face after her revelation.

"Am I awake?" Grover suddenly asked, pinching his arm. He winced and looked back at Nancy.

She swallowed again, reminding herself of the term used for the thing that was standing in front of her: satyr. So the scrawny kid she used to use as a target for her peanut butter and ketchup sandwiches was also a hybrid of some sort. No big deal. She just had to explain things to him, and humble herself, apologizing for--

"Why are you here?" Grover asked sharply.

Nancy recoiled a little at his tone. "Um. . ."

She imagined Percy's warm face and did her best to imitate it. If Grover was anything like Percy, or at least the same pushover he used to be, this would go just fine.

"Hey, Grover," Nancy said quietly, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "I guess you just can't get away from me."

Her lousy joke hung in the air for a moment, earning nothing but a large bout of awkwardness.

She cleared her throat, and squared her shoulders. She couldn't afford to look so ridiculous in front of someone she used to dominate. "Look, I'm sorry. I know this is random and you didn't expect to see me here, so I'll be quick.

"I was a real pain back in sixth grade, to both you and a lot of other people who didn't deserve it. I promise, I'm a different person now. It turns out I'm a demigod, and it looks like you're a satyr, so I really would like to get along with you."

Nancy stopped herself before she could sound any more stupid. "So, uh, yeah. I'm apologizing. No more peanut butter and ketchup sandwiches, no more bullying. I promise." By then, she was smiling, a small bubble of pride forming in her chest.

Her smile fell when she saw Grover's face.

It was hard and unreadable, unnerving. It was a very different face than the one Grover used to have, all those years ago.

"You do realize that you made Percy's life Tartarus back then, don't you?"

Nancy sheepishly looked down. "I do, but I--"

"That isn't something that just goes away, Nancy Bobofit. And that year wasn't too much fun for me, either. I don't know how you got here, or which god decided to ruin my day. If you're really a demigod, then don't bother me." Grover was worked up, clearly upset now that the realization of his old bully standing in front of him had sunk in.

Nancy suddenly felt very stupid, standing there in the Camp Half Blood t-shirt Annabeth had given her.

Without another word, Grover walked around her and started on his way to the Mess Hall.

Nancy followed, deflated and extremely embarrassed.

Also, she was late.

a / n

oof. this is really late, i apologize. thank you to all of you who told me to take my time and recover from the demon that is writer's block frequently. i really appreciate that <3

did grover's reaction surprise you ?

now, i'm off to write the other thousand things i promised with the ever present writer's block sitting on my shoulders, wish me luck !

yours in demigodishness and all that,

- grace