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Grover fiddles with his bagpipes nervously, staring at the door as if it will come alive and try to take a chunk out of him.
Annabeth and Percy are in there and his empathy link tells him they’re probably tired so he’s reconsidering this all over again. Juniper was the one to push him to do this, sick of him ‘mooning over his friends’. Grover doesn't think it was that bad.
Still, Grover hasn’t seen much of Percy or Annabeth recently, feels awkward just turning up out of the blue like this. He was like their brother at one point but everything seems to have changed since then and he isn’t sure that they still want to see him, not when they’ve got each other and Piper and Hazel and Frank and Leo and Estelle.
Why would they want Grover? Grover who was never much help on their quests, Grover who let Thalia get hurt when he was supposed to protect her, Grover who the Council of Cloven Eld-
The door swings suddenly open, a gentle chime accompanying it and despite Grover’s careful scrutiny of it, he doesn’t expect it. He cannot help but jump, jostling his fake feet in the process.
A woman stands in the doorway, a badge proclaiming what must be her name: ‘Tia’ on her chest and he sees his friends behind her, just as they spin around and catch sight of him at the same time. His heart stutters in his chest and it's stupid.
Surprise is rolling off Percy and Annabeth looks as guarded as ever but she manages a small smile, just for him, but she doesn’t actually seem happy and this was a terrible idea and why did he decide to do it in the first place? For all he knows, Annabeth's smile isn't genuine and she's hated him all this time. Grover feels uncomfortable in the face of their attention, wants to shrink into himself.
"G-Man!" Percy all but yells, a friendly greeting in his voice and something in his chest loosens. He can feel the sincerity, knows that Percy is truly happy that he is there.
"Grover." Annabeth nods. Maybe she's more guarded now but she has the same look on her face as when he set off to find Pan and she was fussing over his tin cans. She seems even more serious about it though and Grover bleats when he realises she's probably even worse than before.
Percy’s grin is real, he feels it, and Annabeth is clearly just as happy to see him and his anxiety almost dissipates.
"I'll leave you children to catch up." Tia says and Grover frowns a little because she's only a little older than the three of them, right? He shrugs. It doesn't matter. Even before he met Tyson, Grover knew that hanging out with Percy would lead to a lot of moments like this, moments where you just have to go with the flow. Sometimes he wonders if that's why he survived Polyphemus.
Percy and Annabeth shout their goodbyes as Tia wanders away and turn to face Grover fully, ushering him inside.
Annabeth truly begins to fuss now, scolding him for being out in the rain and muttering about setting Juniper on his case. Grover expects Percy to meet his eyes as they exchange slightly exasperated looks but Percy is just as concerned as Annabeth, if less likely to manhandle him or vocalise it. His eyebrows are furrowed with concern as he looks at Grover and Grover is too embarrassed for anxiety.
He doesn't want to explain why he's wet, knows it will result in even more fussing but at least he knows it won't make him anxious. Maybe Percy's changed but they all have and it actually makes him feel better that his friends are slightly different. It would be weird if they weren't.
Grover certainly doesn't enjoy his friends' concern but he is happy. It was a good idea and he'd better thank Juniper when he gets back.
Before he knows it, he's nervously spilling why he waited so long to come in. Annabeth has her arms crossed and Percy's tapping his foot impatiently and Grover's supposed to be older than both of them so why does he feel like a child being scolded by his parents?
He doesn't want to admit it but part of the reason he wasn't sure is because he was never a child. Satyrs aren't children, are a completely different species and he's seen Percy with Tyson and even Annabeth now but he wasn't sure they would want to hang out anymore. Some of the campers can be quite dismissive and without Annabeth and Percy buffering him, he's struggled a little.
Clarisse is always up for 'teaching those punks their place' but that didn't stop the doubt from creeping into Grover, didn't stop the slow poisoning of his thoughts.
It was silly to think that Annabeth and Percy would turn on him but Grover wouldn't blame them even if they did. Satyrs aren't humans and he knows how little humans respect animals. Why should he expect any different, half human and half animal as he is?
He doesn't realise he's speaking out loud until Percy says, "You have evil thoughts for a goa-".
Annabeth whacks him lightly on the arm before he can finish but Grover laughs. Coming from anyone else, it would probably be an insult but this is Annabeth and Percy, his Annabeth and Percy and he still knows them so well it surprises him. Grover may be a goat, may be a satyr, could be whatever you may think of (could even be a donkey), but it doesn’t matter because he’s a friend here.
”I do.” he says this time and they all smile. Their first quest was terrifying but they all like to think that it prepared them well. Going to the underworld? Piece of cake compared to what came next.
You know you’ve been through something when you start thinking about being stretched to death or jumping from arches as the good old days.
But they were good because the three of them were together. They had each other and as Grover leans into his two best friends, he realises they still have each other.
Annabeth slowly gets up, making her way behind the bar to retrieve something and Grover immediately perks up when he sees what she’s shaking triumphantly.
Tin cans have never tasted so good.
”We have a stash behind the bar.” Percy tempts and Grover is hopeless to resist, lured in.
”I’m not Charon.” he grumbles and they laugh, the only ones who understand that reference.
“No,” they agree, “you’re our goat.”.