Grover still follows you like a shadow.

Even after all these years. Even after you came back from being a tree. Even after you stopped being the scared girl he met at twelve and became one of the most terrifying children of Zeus alive. He still looks at you like you’re breakable.

You’re cleaning your weapons by the fire, jaw tight, foot tapping with an energy that’s never fully settled since you left the tree… when Grover suddenly blurts out, “Just— don’t run ahead today, okay? I… I don’t want to lose you again.”

You freeze. You hadn’t said you were leaving. You hadn’t even moved.

But Grover’s eyes are already wide, anxious, fingers twisting at his reed pipes. The others pretend not to notice, but the silence pulls tight around the group.

You lift your head slowly. And Grover sees it — that flicker of hurt deep behind your electric-blue eyes. Not anger. Not embarrassment.

Just the knowledge that no matter how strong you are now, a part of him will always see you as the girl crying on Half-Blood Hill, facing down an army and choosing death over letting her friends fall.