Prompt: "You did not just eat playdough. Tell me you didn't."

Cohort: 3

Written for the Camp Jupiter forum.

"Why am I waiting in the arts and crafts center?" Grover asked for the millionth time.

"Look, Grover," Nico said, massaging his temples in annoyance. "I've already told you, Juniper isn't here yet, and I figured you should wait here-"

"But why isn't she here? I just came back from California! It's been forever since I've seen her!" Grover persisted. Then, an expression of horror came over Grover's face. "You don't think-" his voice dropped to a whisper, "that she found another satyr?" His face crumpled and Grover sank down on a bench, miserably looking at the dozens of playdough sculptures littering the table in front of him. Catapults, flamethrowers, and onagers were only a few of the small yet detailed playdough formations on the table.

Nico rolled his eyes. He was leaning against the wall of the arts and crafts center, clearly bored out of his mind. "Look, Grover," he said exasperatedly, glancing at the door suspiciously, "Juniper told me not to tell you, but-"

"I knew it!" Grover cried, "She's found another satyr, hasn't she? I knew I wasn't good enough for someone like Juniper." Grover groaned and picked up a playdough onager, dejectedly picking it apart and stuffing the pieces in his mouth.

"No, she was planning a surprise for you, and she wasn't expecting you to get back so early, and-" Nico paused, looking at Grover in repulsion. "You did not just eat playdough. Tell me you didn't."

Grover froze, looking at Nico guiltily. Swallowing quickly, Grover placed the half-eaten onager back on the table next to a couple others.

"It's just playdough!" he exclaimed. "You mortals are always getting so upset over us innocent satyrs eating "non-people" food. I'll have you know that tin cans and playdough are perfectly acceptable and vegetarian - wait. Did you say Juniper was planning a surprise for me?" His face visibly brightened, and a huge goofy grin overtook his face.

"Yeah, yeah, she is, and while that's incredibly disgusting - do you know how many people have touched that? But anyways, did you just eat one of Harley's onagers?" he said, his voice getting higher and higher with every word he spoke.

Grover frowned, not understanding why Nico seemed so horrified. "Well, yes, but it's just playdough," he reasoned. "I'm sure Harley won't mind. There's plenty of playdough left in the closet, right? And eating playdough is not disgusting!" Grover crossed his arms defensively.

Nico shook his head frantically, his voice dropping to a whisper. "But it's Harley, if he finds out, we're dead meat," he moaned.

"But it's only one onager," Grover said, mystified. "Harley will probably be able to fix it in no time!"

"Yes, but it's Harley," Nico said, repeating himself. "You just don't upset him. Even I know not to make Harley upset. Why do you think we did all those three-legged races in the labyrinth? Besides, if Nyssa finds out we upset Harley, well... let's not talk about it."

Grover shrugged. He opened his mouth to say something, but just then, Harley skipped into the arts and crafts center, carrying a large tub of playdough. Nico and Grover looked at each other, both wearing expressions of fear and, in Grover's case, guilt. But Harley didn't seem to notice as he set the playough on the very edge of the table.

"Hi guys!" Harley exclaimed. "Oh hi, Grover! Nice to see that you're back! Juniper's almost ready for-" he clapped his hands over his mouth, his eyes widening as he looked at Nico, who had merely raised his eyebrows.

"Well, anyways," Harley said, recovering, "I was just gone to get more playdough from the Big House. Did you know I used up all the playdough in here? Crazy, right?" Harley continued to chatter, unaware of what had transpired earlier.

"... and I even made replicas of the onagers Octavian used! Let me show you!" Harley leaned over the table, unaware of Grover's suddenly fearful face.

Nico, seeing what was about to happen, slowly began backing away towards the door. "I'm out of here," he mouthed to Grover.

Just as Nico was about to leave, Harley picked up the mauled and half-eaten onager. "Wait," he said, a look of confusion slowly overtaking his face. "My - my onager! It looks like someone... someone ate it!" A look of great disappointment overtook Harley's face as he fiddled with the mangled onager.

After a moment, Grover knew he had to tell Harley what had happened. "I'm - I'm so sorry, but... I was just nervous, and I picked up the first thing I saw. I didn't realize that I had eaten it until it was too late," Grover confessed.

Harley chewed on his bottom lip, eyes screwing up. Grover and Nico held their breath, waiting to see if Harley would cry or not.

But instead, Harley merely shrugged. "I guess that's okay," he said nonchalantly, "you may as well eat the rest of the onager. I've got lots more playdough now anyway." Harley dropped the onager in front of Grover and grabbed a handful of playdough out of a container and quickly set to work making another onager.

Over by the door, Nico visibly sighed. Putting his ear against the door, Nico tentatively opened the door. "Well, Grover," he said, closing the door once more, "looks like Juniper's here."

"For the sur - sorry!" Harley covered his mouth once more, looking at Grover to see if he had noticed.

Grover stood up a little shakily, eating what was left of the onager. "I'm ready, I guess," he said hesitantly. "You're still sure she likes me, right? Hasn't found a better satyr?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "You should have heard Juniper while you were away," Nico griped, "always wondering if you met another nymph, looking annoyingly dejected... really, relationships are so annoying sometimes."

Breaking out into another smile, Grover sighed happily. "But wait, hold on," he said, realizing something, "aren't you dating Will Solace?"

Blushing faintly, Nico looked away. "That doesn't matter right now. But, since Juniper's waiting, we should probably head outside," Nico muttered, changing the subject quickly.

Nervously, Grover made his way to the door. Hesitantly opening the door and peeking outside, Grover was greeted with the sight of Juniper and a bunch of other nymphs and satyrs holding up a large banner that read WELCOME BACK GROVER! in neatly painted letters. Grover could even see some satyrs and nymphs holding cheerfully wrapped presents in their arms. One even held a bag smelling deliciously of enchiladas, just for him.

Then, a flash of green was all Grover saw before two arms wrapped around him, squeezing him tightly. "You're back!" Juniper cried, burying her head in his shoulder.

Grover hugged Juniper back just as tightly, breathing in the familiar scent of juniper that always followed her. "It's good to be back," Grover sighed happily.

Pulling away from Grover, Juniper looked at Grover suspiciously. "Why does your breath smell like playdough?"

Laughing, Grover took Juniper's hand in his. "Doesn't matter right now. I missed you though."

Beaming once more, Juniper kissed Grover gently, wrapping her arms around him once more. "I did too, Grover. I did too."

A/N: Honestly, I love Harley. He's only 8 years old, so I feel like he would still play with playdough :) And I feel like the entire camp would be super protective of him since he's so young.