Grover Underwood

I will not disclose how many times I fell off of the skateboard.

"Jackson, hey! What are you doing here in June?" One of the kids around our age, maybe a year or two older, asked Percy as he set down his bag. "The sperm donor lose custody of you?"

Percy rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm just in town for the day," he told this guy, motioning to me. "Grover just got back, so I finally convinced him to try getting a board."

And Percy must talk about me to some of his mortal friends, because the dude smiled, visibly excited as another guy and girl came up behind him.

"Oh my god, you're Grover!?" The dude asked me. "I'm so glad you're not dead, dude- Percy was like, very worried about you. It's so cool that we finally get your boyfriend, Perce."

How did he know?

We're not even holding hands right now.

The girl elbowed him.

"Best friend, dumbass." She corrected, which led to believe that these guys must've thought that Percy and I were dating at one point in time. "Sorry about Logan- he's been joking with Percy about you two ever since you were sharing a dorm. I'm Li, by the way, and this is Keaton. We've been skating with Percy since we all started to learn how. He's like, a master. You got a real good teacher here."

"And if you maybe tipped him for his service with a kiss, that'd be cool," Logan added on, making Percy have to cover his face. I couldn't help but smile. "Some of us would get a couple bucks out of it. No pressure, though."

And, out of curiosity, I sent a thought to my boyfriend.

Are you out to them?

No, he responded, which I think made this even funnier. But Logan's idea is really good, you should do that. I don't think I... Have to come out to them. They just kind of... Know.

I rolled my eyes.

"I'll consider it- for a cut, of course," my response got a hearty laugh from almost everyone, which made me feel nice. "What's the deal, exactly? I need to make sure we fulfill it exactly as is."

"Hey!" Keaton cut in. "That's unfair! We'll leave you guys to doing questionable things together- and if you do kiss, it better be genuine! I'm not a charity."

And with that, the group of skaters went back to where they'd been skating a little ways away on the other end of the park, leaving Percy and I back together to continue our date.

"I have a plan," I told my boyfriend, who just smiled at he handed me some wrist guards to put on. "So, when were almost ready to go, I'm probably going to fall off my board."

"Okay?"

"And when that happens, you help me up, because you're a thoughtful boyfriend," I continue. "But also, one of us makes a super dramatic confession and then we kiss and split the money that I'll get from Keaton."

Percy laughed.

"It's a wonderful idea, Grover," he told me, handing me a helmet, hesitant. "This... Won't hurt your horns, will it?"

Looking at the inskde of the helmet, I shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out."

Putting it on, I thought I was okay to wear the helmet. It was a little uncomfortable, but bearable.

And then I actually clicked it into place and had to take it off immediately.

"Okay, no helmet, no helmet." I insisted, giving it back to Percy. "I will just put my hat back on because that's like... More than having literally no protection. I don't know if I can go into the hole without a helmet, though."

"The ho... Oh! Don't worry, I wasn't going to have you do anything in the bowl," Percy promised me, holding his hand out. "now, first things first: hold my hand."

I took his hand.

"Easy."

He smiled.

"Next," he continued, making sure my skateboard-or, really, his board that he was letting me use, was in between us on the ground. "Put one shoe right here," he motioned towards one end of the skateboard, where four little dots were grouped together.

Lifting one hoof, I placed my shoe onto the board.

If the other four were watching us, I hope they were being decent enough to at least take photos.

"Then," Percy instructed. "Put your other shoe here."

And fun fact: if you lean too far while trying to get on skateboard, your board will fly out from underneath you.

Don't ask how I know that.

But the speed at which skateboards can go is kind of terrifying for the ankles of everyone everywhere.

The second time, I actually was able to get my other hoof onto the board and was suddenly very off balance, realizing that I'm on a piece of bent wood with four wheels.

"Woah, hey, it's okay," Percy reassured me, keeping a firm grip on my hands. "that's why I'm here. Bend your knees. I'm going to start walking very slowly."

"You're going to-"

And then my whole body lerched to the right as the board started to move under me.

"OH MY GODS WE'RE MOVING!" I yelled out, surprised that my grip hadn't turned Percy's hands blue yet.

"We're moving! You're doing a great job," my boyfriend reassured me. "Just breathe and bend your knees- I don't want you to pass out on me. You're not a fainting goat, are you?"

"I'm not- only when you do really cool things like defeat the Minotaur bare handed." I defended myself, though I don't know how well it worked. "That's the only time I've ever fainted."

He smiled.

"Then I better find some hot girl shit to do," Percy joked. "I can't have my boyfriend thinking I'm lame. Would showing you a trick on the board constitute being hot girl shit?"

I couldn't help but chuckle, accidentally leaning too far towards Percy and falling off of the board- this time actually falling and knocking Percy down with me.

I only screamed a little.

"Oh my- hi," Percy said as he propped himself up on his left arm, tucking a little bit of hair back into my helmet. "I didn't realize I was attractive enough to fly off of a board for. I'll be much less attractive if I break my nose."

And because I couldn't help myself, I gave his nose a kiss.

"I do like your nose."

He gave me a quick, soft kiss on the lips.

"And I like you." He responded. "Come on, you can practice standing on the board while holding onto the railing and I'll show you some cool stuff, okay?"

•••

We got 20 dollars from that bet.

Which means that we actually had enough money to stop into the nearest punk shop and buy a shirt that Thalia would hopefully wear.

"I mean, it's Green Day," Percy reasoned as we started to walk down to the subway- my grip on his hand tightening because I hate being underground. "Everyone likes Green Day. That's like, required, if you want to be a citizen."

"Really?"

"Duh-you would get deported or whatever it you didn't like Green Day. Those are the rules."

"I'm sure," I said. "I'm sure she'll like it-it seems like her style. And your style. I think you two will get along."

He looked at me, surprised (I think jokingly, but it's hard to tell sometimes).

"You mean I can have more than 3 friends at the same time?"

I rolled my eyes.

"What do you call the people at the skate park? They said that they've known you for forever, are you guys not friends?"

"I mean, we're friends," Percy figured, picking at something on the back of his skateboard. "But we're not close. They're their own group and when I'm around they might let me join them, depending. I've never been able to stick around anywhere long enough to really make any close friends. I mean, you, obviously, but..."

He shrugged again.

"It's kind of exhausting to always be the new kid," he went on, leaning against me to rest his head on my shoulder. "To always be moving and whatever, even though we haven't moved. Makes me feel anxious if I'm in one place for too long, which is even more annoying. We don't have to go into it, though. I'm just tired after our really fun date, and when I get tired... You know the deal."

"Your brain does evil things to you."

"The evilest."

I placed a kiss on the top of his head.

I like being able to do that without it having to be weird or tense afterwards.

It's nice.

Especially because when I get to do it, were literally right by each other, which makes the mental link stronger and makes it easier to sense his emotions.

So when I give him a kiss on the top of his head, I can feel his bad thoughts get washed away and it makes me kind of giddy because it's confirmation that I'm the source of that feeling and I really like Percy and I was so worried when I made the link that things could've gotten weird because he'd eventually have to figure out that I had the world's biggest crush on him, but for some reason he reciprocated those feelings and—

What if he leaves again?

Feeling my heart stop doing it's job, I moved to be able to wrap both of my arms around him.

Looking up at me, Percy smiled, though it was more of a masked smile than a genuine one. It didn't go all the way to his eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you how sweet and nice of a person you are?"

I shrugged.

"Maybe, but I think it was you," I somewhat recalled from last year. "What do you want to do after campfire?"

"If Mr. D and Chiron don't summon us for some cruel and unusual punishment for something that's not even a rule?" My boyfriend responded. "I... Should probably stay in my cabin tonight? You can stay over if you want to, of course, but I feel bad leaving Tyson alone. I've only really been there with him for one night— but I've also only slept at camp for three nights this summer, so... I promise he's not like Polyphemus at all— he's literally a toddler in cyclopes years. A young child. I know you guys didn't really interact on the ship, but..."

"But that's because we didn't really know each other," I tried to justify. "I know he's not like Polyphemus. I'd be willing to stay over, if it's okay, but if you want to spend time with your brother, that's okay, too."

Nodding his head, Percy insisted that he'd talk to Tyson about it once we got back to camp.

"How did you guys meet?" I asked him, starting to mess with his hair. "like, I know you mentioned that you went to school together, but how did you guys become friends?"

Percy shrugged.

"Some kids were asses to him, I defended him. He latched on after that." He told me, which was weird wording, if you ask me. "I didn't mind it at first, but after awhile always hanging out with him got to be kind of... Exhausting, I guess? Is that bad to day. There were days that it just felt like I was an unpaid babysitter because he's technically like, a young child. But we also have a couple common interests so it wasn't always like that. He's even worse than you are at skateboarding, but he likes to do it. Likes to swim. It was just..."

He took a breath, closing his eyes.

"Even now, I still don't know how to feel about the fact that he's technically my brother." But as Percy spoke, I could sense the weight bearing down as him as he thought about his new half brother. "guilty, maybe? We haven't hung out a ton after our first day at camp. I mean, we were on the quest together, but even then he was usually doing his own thing when we were sailing. In a way, it felt like my bio dad was mocking me, too, which is... Something, I guess."

"Mocking you? How so?"

"I was supposed to have a younger sibling, before my dad got drunk. Not long after 9/11— Gabe had lost a friend during it and then like, a few weeks later, Mom miscarried. It was his final straw."

He paused, taking a breath.

"Maybe it's stupid that I think my sperm donor would do this purposely, but If Tyson is around the age of a toddler or a young child... It's been six years since Mom miscarried, give or take," he summarized, putting his hands over mine. "they would've been the same age. And knowing that just... Like, did he know that Mom was pregnant? Or that she miscarried? Did he just not care that it destroyed our family for like, years? Does he think that Tyson somehow makes up for the fact that my mom never got to have that kid? I don't..."

"I know know," I told my boyfriend as he took a long breath. "With gods, it's hard to say— I've heard like, more than one god tease your bio dad about your mom because he apparently never shut up about her for like, a lot of time, so I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow kept tabs on her without making contact, but it's almost impossible to know unless you just ask, but... That's not exactly something we can do."

"I'd also rather stab myself in the foot than have to talk to him again," Percy figured, which I understood, even if it seemed like a slightly extreme thing to compare it to.

A hand I could see, but a foot? The healing process for that is brutal.

Ask Ares, he would know.

"Oh, this is our stop." Percy said as the subway started to slow down. "come on, we have weird songs to not sing and an old married couple to get lectured by."

I smiled.

"I can't wait."