Here's a little one-shot I got the idea for the other day when I was on the phone with my bff (kittyallstars) and I thought it would be a good fanfic. Anyways, I know it's kind of long, but I'm not used to writing one-shots (this is my first one) and I felt like I should include all of this. I hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO
Grover grinned as he put the last piece of tape on the now perfectly wrapped present. The blue and green wrapping paper looked great, but he knew that what was inside was even better. This year, the satyr had wanted to get his best friend something special for his birthday this year, so rather than buying something from the store, he had planted a few blue Forget-Me-Not flowers in a pot and just now put them in the box, which he had just wrapped. At first, he worried that giving him flowers would seem romantic, but Juniper had reassured him that there were plenty of flowers that represented friendship and there was no reason that a guy couldn't give one to another guy. Since blue was Percy's favorite color and the name seemed to symbolize friendship and always being there for each other, Grover had thought they were the perfect choice.
He took one glance at the clock and, seeing that breakfast was about to be over, decided it was time to go tell his friend happy birthday. He set the present on his desk before leaving the Big House and trotting down to the Poseidon cabin. Once outside of the door, he put his hand on the knob, ready to turn it, when he heard a familiar female voice inside.
"You can go ahead and send the picture," Annabeth said. Oops, Grover thought. I don't want to interrupt them if they're talking. "Yeah, I know." She continued. He was about to go when he realized that Percy hadn't replied. Why would Annabeth keep talking if Percy hadn't said anything back? He opened the door a crack, curious now. Inside, Percy's girlfriend was laying on the bed on her stomach with her cell phone to her ear and the laptop in front of her. Grover realized that she was in Percy's cabin because that was the only place she could talk on the phone without being caught since everyone was at breakfast and other than Tyson, Percy didn't have any siblings. How she had picked up a signal way out there was a mystery to him. He didn't want to eavesdrop and took his hand off of the knob.
"Oh my gods, he's so cute!" she exclaimed. That caught his attention. Who could she be talking about? Grover wondered. "How old is he?" She paused. "Huh, a little older than I had hoped, but I'll take him. Does he like to exercise? Because I like to run and I'd want to take him with me." Grover's jaw dropped. Was Annabeth talking about cheating on Percy? He must have heard wrong. He knew she would never do something like that to him, especially not on his eighteenth birthday.
"That sounds great. I'm in love with him already!" she sounded excited, Grover noted. "What type of food does he like?" He saw her taking notes on a piece of paper as the person on the other end described the guy. Grover felt disgusted. She's going to take him out to eat, which could only mean a date.
"Yeah, it's my boyfriend's birthday, so I wanted to get something special." Grover snorted. For yourself. "Of course he doesn't know; it's a surprise." Some surprise that will be. How do you think he'll feel when you show up with another guy?
"Oh, don't worry, he won't mind. Besides, he'll find out soon enough." Grover peeked inside the door once more to make sure it really was Annabeth who was saying all of those terrible things. Unfortunately, his eyes hadn't deceived him.
"Oh, really? That's so cute! I'm definitely going to sneak him into my cabin tonight." Grover felt bile rise into his mouth and Annabeth laughed. "Thank you for your concern, but Percy won't find out. What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Unbelievable. I know for certain that what he doesn't know will hurt him. I thought children of Athena were supposed to be smart "Okay, so I'll pick him up at noon and then I'm going to take him for a walk in the park. After that, I need to go get him some food and a few things from the store to make him look nice for when Percy meets him." So she actually has the guts to introduce her new boyfriend to Percy on his birthday? I can't let this happen. Oh, gods, how am I going to tell Percy?
She paused once more as she listened to the other person. "Okay, thanks! See you then." She hung up and put her phone down. Grover realized she was probably about to come out and hurried away.
Annabeth sighed and felt the smile growing on her face as she took one last look at the sixth month old puppy before closing her laptop. She hoped Percy would love his present.
Nico was dusting off the desk in his cabin, carefully picking up his CDs one by one and putting them in a nice, neat stack. He had been working on cleaning up for about an hour and was about to be finished when the door suddenly burst open.
"Nico!" Grover exclaimed as he came in. Nico jumped and nearly dropped the CD case he was now holding.
"What?" Nico asked in an annoyed voice as he continued stacking his CDs. This had better be pretty good.
"Oh, sorry," the satyr apologized. "Was I interrupting something?"
"No, no. Of course not, I was just standing here waiting for someone like you to walk in and tell me all of their problems." Nico had thought the sarcasm in his voice was obvious, but apparently it wasn't obvious enough for Grover to notice.
"Good. I need your help. Annabeth is cheating on Percy." This time, Nico actually did drop his CD.
"What?" Nico asked in shock as he leaned down to pick up the CD. "How is that even possible? I mean, they seem so happy together, like they'd never even dream of being with someone else."
"I know, but I heard her talking on the phone. I guess she was on some online dating service or something. She was talking about picking up some good-looking, older guy and taking him out on a date. Then something about getting him dressed up so he can go meet Percy."
"So she's planning on introducing them to each other on his birthday? Are you sure about this, Grover? It seems a little too farfetched to be true."
"I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't heard it with my own two ears."
"Man, this is terrible!" Nico gave up on trying to straighten up and set down his CDs. "What are we going to do?"
"That's why I'm here. Annabeth is going to pick him up at noon and Percy's mom is going to take him out to lunch at 12:30. His party starts at three, so we should to have a meeting by the campfire at one, which means we have about two hours to spread the word."
"But what if they don't come?"
Grover shrugged. "Just tell all of the campers. If they don't want to come, they don't have to. Now, we'd better get started."
"Okay, quiet down everybody!" Grover called over all of the noisy campers. A few looked at him, but the majority just ignored him and continued talking. "Come on, guys, we need to talk about this. If you guys don't want to discuss what we're going to do with this Annabeth problem, then you should just leave now."
"Where's the pizza?" one camper shouted.
"Pizza?" Grover asked. "We don't have any pizza. Now, lis-"
"When is Orlando Bloom going to get here?" an Aphrodite girl asked.
"What?" Grover asked, very confused now.
"Isn't that what we're here to discuss? I heard Annabeth is going to pick Orlando Bloom up from the airport and bring him back here."
"Okay, I have no idea how these rumors even started," Grover glared at the Stoll brothers, who were snickering. "But they're not true. We're here to talk about what to do with our Annabeth problem."
There were a few awes in the crowd and the majority of the group left, leaving only about five others. Grover rolled his eyes at how gullible some people were.
"Hey, where's Clarisse?" he asked no one in particular. There was no way she was part of the crowd who just left.
"She refused to come," Nico said. "She said you guys are stupid if you think that's true, so she and Chris just decided to help with setting up for the party."
"Rachel?"
"She went with Annabeth, but I doubt she'd help us anyway."
Grover sighed as he looked at the few people who had stayed, which were the Stoll brothers, Nico, and Juniper. "Okay, I guess it's just us. Anyone have any ideas?"
Travis and Connor exchanged a grin.
"When don't we have an idea?" Connor asked.
"Does this involve any pranks?" Juniper asked. "Because I don't want to be mean to anyone, and I know that's what you guys specialize in."
Travis shrugged. "If you don't want our ideas, fine, but good luck thinking of something else."
Nico sighed. "Just tell us. We can always change it up a bit if we don't like it."
"Okay," Connor said. "We're going to need a few things first, though."
"Consider it done," Grover said, happy someone had finally thought of something. How terrible could their plan be?
"Here, I have everything you guys asked for," Grover said when he got back to camp from his trip to the store. "I still don't get why we need all of these gummy worms for, though."
"Thanks," Travis said, taking the bag full of about a dozen gummy worm packages from Grover and hastily opening one. His brother took another one from and did the same thing.
"Okay," Connor said through a mouthful of candy. "When does the party start?"
"In about half an hour."
"Perfect. Where's the super glue?"
"I didn't want you guys to actually hurt anybody," Grover told them. "So I just got syrup instead."
Travis sighed. "Okay, whatever, that should work." Grover watched as they poured the huge package of the goopy substance into the giant bucket. Connor then put a bunch of colorful feathers that Grover had bought at an art store in with the syrup.
"So are these gummy worms going in there, too?"Grover asked, picking up one of the packages.
"No," Travis said, snatching the package away from him. "Those are for us to eat." Grover rolled his eyes, deciding not to ask how they were planning on eating so many gummy worms.
"You guys do know the party is going to be outside, right?" Juniper asked. "I mean, you can't hang that above a door to fall down on someone who walks in."
The brothers laughed. "Who even does that anymore?" Travis asked.
"Then what are you going to do with it?" Nico asked. He had been thinking along the same lines as Juniper.
"You'll see."
"Happy birthday, Percy!" Grover exclaimed as he set his present down on the plastic table they had set up in the sand.
"Thanks, G-man. This is really awesome," he gestured to his party, which they had decided to do on the beach. Some of the campers were dancing to the music that was blasting from someone's boom box while others were swimming or playing some type of game.
"Yeah, I know. I wish I'd thought of it."
"It's okay, Annabeth told me that you helped a great deal with the planning, as well," he told the satyr. "Where is she, by the way? I haven't seen her since I got back."
Grover felt disgusted by even just her name and he knew he had to tell his friend. "Percy, about that. Annabeth-"
"She's back!" Percy exclaimed as he ran towards his girlfriend, who was walking over with a huge grin on her face. Grover saw them talking, but couldn't hear anything, so he ran over, as well.
"Sorry I'm late," Annabeth was saying. "I got held up." With what? Admiring your new boyfriend? Grover wondered.
"It's all right," he told her. "I'm just glad you're here now?"
"Where's Rachel?" Grover asked, wanting to just get it over with.
"Oh, she's in my car," Annabeth answered. "Come on, Seaweed Brain, I have something I need to show you." Grover tried to stop them, but they were already racing each other to her car. He trotted after them, trying to catch up.
"Wait," Grover told them when they were outside of the car. He took a second to catch his breath before continuing. "Don't do this, Annabeth."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Don't do what you're about to do. You can't. It's not right."
"How did you find out?" she asked, shocked that he knew.
"I overheard you talking on the phone this morning. Please, don't do this."
"I'm sorry, Grover, I thought you would like him as much as I did, but he's Percy's."
Grover opened his mouth to ask, but Percy beat him to it. "What are you two going on about?"
Annabeth sighed. "Well, I hope you're more enthusiastic about this than Grover." She opened up the back door, where Rachel was sitting with something in her lap being covered by a blanket. Annabeth took the puppy, which was inside the blanket, and handed him to Percy. "Happy birthday."
"Oh my gods, Annabeth! You got me a puppy!" The golden retriever squirmed and Percy set him on the ground.
"Your mom told me you always wanted one when you were little and he was the only one at the shelter who wasn't already full-grown, but he's nearly there."
"He's so cute! Thank you so much!" He pulled her in for a kiss and Grover stood there watching, very confused.
"Wait, so you were talking about a dog?" he asked when they had pulled away from each other. Percy was talking to Rachel while they played fetch with the new puppy.
"Of course," Annabeth answered. "What else would I have been talking about?"
"Never mind," Grover muttered, replaying what he had heard of Annabeth's conversation over in his head. It actually made sense when he thought about it and he was relieved that he had been wrong.
Percy decided it would be fun to show the new addition to the camp to everyone else, so they all made their way back to the beach. Everyone was excited and crowded around him while Grover looked for the Stoll brothers; he needed to tell them not to go through with the plan.
"Hey, Annabeth, come here!" someone called and Grover realized that it was Connor. Oh, no, they're already doing it! Grover thought as he began trotting over to where they stood. He could see the bucket and knew they were going to find some way of getting Annabeth to fall in it.
"No!" he called out, pushing past Annabeth and running the rest of the way to the Stoll brothers, realizing too late what was about to happen. He tripped over the piece of rope they had set up and fell straight into the bucket of syrup and feathers. He sat up straight, spitting a feather out of his mouth.
"Oh my gods!" Annabeth exclaimed when she made it over. The Stoll brothers were dying of laughter and Annabeth seemed to be trying to hide her smile, but it wasn't working too well.
"Why would you still continue with the plan?" Grover asked them angrily as he stood up. They began laughing even harder. "It's not funny! Didn't you see the dog?"
"Yes, we did, actually," Travis said once he had calmed down a bit. "We were just calling Annabeth over to explain the misunderstanding and ask if she had any ideas on what to do with this goop so we wouldn't have to waste it, but I guess we didn't have to." He broke into fits of laughter and Annabeth couldn't hold it in any longer. She joined them in their laughter and Grover just shook his head before making his way back to the party. The other three tried to calm down and followed him, not wanting to miss how the others would react.
Percy's jaw dropped when he saw his best friend and the campers who saw him started cracking up.
"What happened to you?" he asked. "You look like a rainbow chicken."
"I'd rather not talk about it," Grover answered.
"Grover!" Juniper cried as she ran to her boyfriend. "What happened to you?"
He sighed. "Can Percy just open his presents now?" Annabeth felt sorry for the satyr and grabbed a present at random, which just so happened to be the one from Grover, handing it to her boyfriend. Percy tore off the wrapping paper, and then opened up the box, pulling out the pot of flowers. There were a few snickers from the crowd when Percy said it was from Grover.
"Are those Forget-Me-Not flowers?" Katie Gardner asked.
"Yes, they are," Grover said, annoyed. This was not his day, and the snickers from the crowd weren't helping.
"Do you know what they mean?"
"Well, they're Percy's favorite color, and I figured the name would mean our friendship and all that we've been through together."
"Um, no, actually the Forget-Me-Not symbolizes true love and memories." Everyone broke into fits of laughter, even Percy, who was obviously trying to hold it in. Grover felt the blood rush to his cheeks and tried to think of a way out of this embarrassing situation.
"It's okay, Grover, it's the thought that counts," Percy said as he started to pat his friend on the back, then took his hand away, realizing that it was now covered in syrup and a few feathers. Percy grinned at his friend before going to wash his hand off. Someone turned the music back on and the party started back up. Grover assumed that Percy would finish opening presents later.
The satyr sighed as he watched the party. Boy, had he made a fool out of himself today, not to mention the fact that he would have to wash out all of that syrup. It was going to take forever to get it out of his fur.
"At least you didn't get the super glue," Travis said, as if reading his thoughts.
"Yeah, I guess," he answered.
"Well, it looks like you have made a complete fool of yourself. I mean, if I were you, I wouldn't even want to show my face here for like, well, forever."
"Thanks, Travis, you're really helping," Grover said sarcastically.
"Just doing my job," he said, not catching the sarcasm, as he put a piece of candy into his mouth. "Next time, we should get some duct tape and put it on someone's car door so they can't get out and they'll be trapped in there until they promise to do our chores for a month and buy us these giant robots that-"
"Travis?"
"Yeah?"
"There isn't going to be a 'next time', okay?"
"Good idea." They stood there in silence for a few seconds as they looked out at everyone. Travis looked at Grover with a grin on his face as an idea popped into his head. "Can I-"
"No," Grover answered.
"But I didn't even ask the question yet!"
"Yeah, but it's still going to be a no."
Travis sighed. "Okay. You know, you look kind of upset. Want a gummy worm?"
"Thanks, but I'll pass. I've had enough of sugary substances for the day."
Travis laughed. "That's a good one."
Grover sighed. He was getting irritated at the son of Hermes who wouldn't leave him alone. "You know, your brother probably is pulling a prank on someone right now. He needs you, Travis."
"You're right. See you later!" He ran away and Grover started towards the Big House. He might as well go ahead and start cleaning himself off. He decided that the next birthday party he went to, he was going to skip the present all together and just give them money instead.
Aw poor Grover! I want gummy worms now! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story! Review, please and thank you! :D
