Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Nico, get out of there right now,” Annabeth said, rapping her knuckles on his door.

There was a few seconds of hushed cursing, followed by shuffling as she assumed Nico was scrambling to get dressed. 

A couple days ago, Nico had sworn he’d put in the effort to actually befriend the rest of the Argo II crew. Despite that, he hadn’t made any changes in his behavior. He stayed in his room until the sun dipped far enough for there to be heavy shadows, then he’d disappear off the ship, and return with snacks and drinks for him and Annabeth to share while she updated him on the ship’s progress.

“What.” The door slammed open, revealing Nico’s dead stare. His eyes were rimmed with deep purple bags, and his skull shirt was twisted around, like he’d put it on blindfolded. An old laceration scar on his cheek looked red and irritated, like he’d been scratching at if for a while.

“Oh you are not a morning person,” Annabeth said. 

He glared at her harder. 

“C’mon, it’s breakfast. I had Leo make another chair for you!”

“I don’t…do breakfast.” Nico made a sour face. “Most important meal of the day my ass.”

Annabeth looked him up and down. “Nico, you’re wasting away.”

He scoffed, clawing at the scar on his cheek, “You sound like Demeter.”

“Insult me like that again and I’ll have Piper serve you for breakfast.” She wordlessly swatted his hand away from his injury, which he only looked mildly annoyed at.

Nico crossed his arms over his chest, huffing. “I’m not even hungry, I ate a lot last night.”

“Okay, how would you like to be cooked? Deep fried? A nice sauté? Maybe we could add a little fancy garnish and everything.” 

She pantomimed sprinkling seasoning on his head. He tried to push her hand away, but she only swapped arms, laughing. Growling, he shoved her away by her shoulders. If Annabeth didn’t know him, she’d have thought he was upset—but the playful little glint in his eyes gave him away.

“Come on,” Annabeth said, her hand on her hip. “You’ve got to be starving! If you don’t come to breakfast, you might just wilt away.”

“I’m not hungry, and you can’t threaten me into eating.”

As if to punctuate his sentence, Nico’s stomach growled. He flushed bright red, grabbing at the front of his shirt.

“Um—”

“I knew that was bullshit, even your body agrees with me.” She hooked her arm around his shoulders, yanking him towards the dining hall. “Breakfast time, kid.”

Leo raised his eyebrows when Annabeth dragged Nico into the dining hall, but she shook her head, silently willing him to shut it. 

No one questioned it when she tossed him in the newest chair right beside her own, which she would be forever grateful for. If they started asking her or Nico probing questions about their newfound friendship, she was afraid Nico might shadow-travel himself into a deep hole, and never come back out. Or that they’d fluster him so much he’d simply dissipate.

Percy grinned when Annabeth sat next to him, offering her a strawberry off his plate like it was made of solid gold.

“I can get my own food,” she said with a small laugh, kissing him on the cheek.

“Yeah yeah, but these strawberries are really good !” He gestured vaguely to his plate, which was mostly strawberries. “They’re from camp!”

“Is that all you’ve been eating?” She asked, plucking the strawberry from his hand and popping it in her mouth, leaves and all. 

A really long time ago, Lee Fletcher had told her the leaves on strawberries were good for joint pain, and after breaking her ankle twice over, then spraining it? Annabeth needed all the help she could get.

“Gods I wish!” Leo called from across the table, “Dude’s eating us out of house and home!”

“The table’s magic!” Percy slammed his hand down, “That’s not possible!”

Nico shot Annabeth a nervous look, his eyes almost wild.

“It’s okay, no one’s actually fighting,” she whispered, leaning in so only he could hear her. “They’re just…you know…boys.”

“I’m a boy.”

“You’re in your nineties, Nico, you are a man .” Annabeth poked him in the chest, smiling. She nodded to his empty plate. “It works like back at camp, just think about what you would normally want to eat, it should appear.”

He looked at the plate for a moment, then back at Annabeth. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but the plate cut him off with a soft poof !

T hey both stared at the food for a moment, totally silent.

Even though Nico looked confused, Annabeth recognized the food almost immediately. She’d seen it in her history class in freshman year. Mulligan vegetable stew, and hot water pie. 

Great Depression food.

It was designed to be cheap, and keep you full for a while. 

Unfortunately, that usually meant putting sawdust, dirt, and/or lint in the food. And knowing Leo’s craftsmen ship, all of the food the Argo II made was probably perfectly historically accurate. Normally, Annabeth would’ve found this fascinating! But right now, the last thing she wanted was Nico eating something that wasn’t even real food.

“Nico, you don’t have to eat that kind of food anymore, you can have whatever you want,” she said, poking her fork in one of her eggs, popping the yolk and spreading it around her plate.

“I didn’t mean to?” He rubbed his forehead with his wrist. “I don’t even…I don’t know what this stuff is.”

The river Lethe , Annabeth remembered. She had to hold herself back from snapping her fingers like a cartoon character.

Hades had rinsed Nico and his sister, Bianca,’s memories off in the river Lethe before tossing them in the Lotus Casino. Something inside Nico remembered Great Depression food. The memory was somewhere deep in his head, embedded and clouded by the water of the Lethe. 

“Dude, that looks disgusting, what?” Jason dropped in the chair across from Annabeth, Piper sitting next to him. He gestured to Nico’s plate with his spoon. “What even is that?”

“Oh, he was just testing the capacity of the plate’s magic!” Annabeth said quickly, snatching the plate.

“They better still be working,” Leo grumbled, “we don’t have time for anymore repairs!” 

“They are…” Annabeth trailed off, glancing down at the almost gray and brown sludge on the plate in her hands. “They are definitely working!”

She went to scrape the potentially sawdust-filled food into the trash.

Despite having his brain wiped, Percy’s memories had still been hidden deep down. She wanted to believe they could draw out Nico’s memories too, that they were still hidden somewhere deep… deep in his head. Unfortunately, Percy had told her the Gorgon’s blood had probably been what healed his mind, and she didn’t want to risk fighting a Gorgon to bring back potentially damaging memories.

Well, if Nico asked her to help him fix her memories, of course she’d try her hardest. Nico was like her annoying step-brothers, except he actually wanted to spend time with her. She would fight tooth and nail to help him remember his past life if he asked her too, but he hadn’t asked for help, and she wasn’t about to overstep. Not when he was as frail and young as he was.

“Uh, I think the plate’s clean.” Percy called. His voice yanked her out of her thoughts.

“Oh—” she shook her head, making her way back to the table. “Yeah, sorry, I zoned out a little.”

Percy raised an eyebrow, but she shot him a ‘We’ll talk about it later’ look before he could say a word. She could almost hear him saying ‘I don’t like that, but I get it, I think’. Instead, he nodded solemnly, turning his attention back to his mangled plate of strawberry tops and what…probably used to be pizza. 

Interesting choices.

Annabeth had Nico try for different food twice more to no avail, it was always the same, depressing meals. 

She opted to give him half her plate instead. 

Usually, Annabeth would eat normal breakfast foods, but they’d just passed through Greece, and she’d been feeling inspired to try more Greek food. Other than her eggs, she had Rizogalo, a form of rice pudding, and Sfakianopita, a cheese pie topped with honey and usually nuts, but Annabeth picked the nuts out of hers, because the texture was unpleasant on her tongue.

Nico had seemed excited to try Rizogalo when she’d explained it was just rice pudding, but she had to coax him into taking anything else.

“Come on, Nico,” she said, laughing under her breath, “It’s good, I swear!”

“I am not eating anything that’s name is more than three syllables—that’s weird. I do not trust it.” He shoved her plate away with his fork. “I’m all set with the pudding, thanks.”

“Sfakianopita is good ! And you can’t survive on pudding and junk food alone, you’re gonna give yourself anemia.”

“You don’t know what I’m capable of—” Nico sneered. “You’re not even a doctor, you can’t tell when what I can and can’t eat.”

In his moment of distraction, Annabeth pushed a chunk of Sfakianopita onto his plate.

“It’s good.” She set her plate back down. “Trust me.”

Frank was watching the two of them from his seat between Hazel and Piper, his mouth hanging open.

“Shut your mouth when you eat, you’re being rude,” Hazel whispered to him, but she was also watching Annabeth with a nervous glint in her eye.

“Sorry!” He held his hand over his mouth, swallowing hard. “Sorry.”

Nico scarfed down his food quick enough to put both Percy and Grover to shame. When his plate was empty, he glanced over at her with an almost embarrassed look in his eye. She’d never seen him eat much. Hell, she barely saw him eat at all, outside chips, soda, and candy when they would hang out. This sudden hunger seemed to have come from nowhere.

Wordlessly, she offered him more food from her plate.

He declined, but there was still a ravenous look in his eye. She recognized the expression from the starving animals in transport she, Percy, and Grover had released years and years ago. 

Annabeth made sure to take a doggie bag and save some food for later—just in case he wanted extra.

The meal was otherwise uneventful.

Leo had to sprint off to talk to Festus at one point, and came back smoking, his shoulder still on fire—but that was nothing new.

They all split off to do their own things. 

Jason and Frank flew off to check for any nearby threats while Piper and Hazel had their own little discussion near Festus. Nico had clambered up to the crow’s nest like he always did, ignoring Coach Hedge’s cursing, erratic baseball-bat-waving, and shouting for him to come down.

Annabeth made her way back to her room, but Percy stopped her, tapping his thigh and not making direct eye contact. Not that he ever usually did, the both of them were awful at looking in someone’s eyes for too long.

“Something wrong?” She took his tapping hand, lacing their fingers together. The tapping just transferred to him rubbing his thumb back and forth over her knuckles.

“When did you and…” he waved his hand, “I’ve never seen Nico being so friendly.”

With a snort, Annabeth tugged him towards her room. “He’s my friend, Seaweed Brain, is that so surprising?”

“Wh—yeah? A little!” Percy followed behind her like a puppy on a leash. “I didn’t know he could feel anything but like, being mad.”

Annabeth shouldered her room door open, flicking the lights on with her elbow, and kicking her sneakers off.

“What do you have against using your hands?” Percy mumbled. 

She chose to ignore that.

“Percy, Nico’s only fifteen. He’s got emotions just like the rest of us.”

“I know that .” Percy crouched down, untying his own sneakers. “I’ve just never seen him not scowling. It’s nice, I…think?”

Her room was exactly as she left it. 

Messy.

Usually, Annabeth wanted her room to be clean and organized—she found it incredibly difficult to focus when there were things out of place—yet she hadn’t found the time, energy, or motivation to clean ever since she got back from Tartarus. It had just felt like another, meaningless chore that only tired her out.

One of her shirts lay crumpled in a ball beside her desk, and a bra hung off the corner of her dresser.

Percy either didn’t notice or mind the mess.

Frowning, Annabeth sat down in her desk chair, spinning slowly. “I’ve got a theory.”

“Uh oh,” he laughed, dropping down on the floor next to her. “What are you planning?”

He gave her one of his stupid, lopsided grins. The kind that made her heart melt out of her chest and her stomach do a little flip flop. When he was younger, she would’ve described his smile as impish, but now that he was practically an adult, the other word that really fit was wicked . He always looked like he was up to something or other. 

Usually something that would end in collateral damage.

“You said you got your memories back because of Gorgon’s Blood, right?”

“Right…” Percy said slowly. He had one eyebrow raised. He definitely knew what she was thinking already. 

Thankfully, he didn’t interrupt her.

“I’ve been wondering if Nico’s memories are still surface level, like yours were.”

“I don’t know,” he rubbed an ugly burn scar on his wrist, a nervous tic Annabeth had noticed he’d picked up after Tartarus. “His memories have been gone for years . Mine were only missing for a few months.”

Annabeth bounced her leg.

He was technically right. He’d almost immediately recovered his memories, in ‘God-Time’ at least. But Nico’s memories have been gone for almost half a decade, there might not be much left to recover? Although, he has mentioned remembering his mother…and all the food from the Great Depression…

“Hey.” Percy tapped her knee, “You’re zoning out on me.”

“Oh, sorry—” she shook her head. “But, he does remember some stuff. The food on his plate this morning was breakfast food from the 1930’s.”

Percy nodded, his hand still on her knee. “We don’t know if he has an anchor, though…” he chewed his lip. “Like, you know, I could remember you. You kept my mind together.”

Annabeth had to turn her head away so Percy wouldn’t see her tearing up. 

He’d told her many times before that the only thing he could remember for months was her name, but it never failed to make her cry. The first time he’d mentioned it, it was totally offhand. He’d just been explaining something to the New Rome senate, and it had cropped up naturally. 

Despite that, Annabeth had had to cup her hand over her mouth to keep herself from sobbing in the middle of the meeting.

Sniffling, she turned back, “I don’t know, he remembers his mom but—but I don’t know if that counts. I-I don’t actually know if he even wants his memories back at all.”

“If it was anyone else, I’d tell you to just ask,” Percy said, rubbing his wrist. “But it’s Nico. He can be—” he paused, narrowing his eyes like he couldn’t think of an appropriate word.

“Yeah.” Annabeth pushed herself out of her chair, dropping next to Percy. “He’s learning, but he’s still…” she circled her hand. “You know?”

He nodded.

Sighing, Annabeth dropped her head on Percy’s shoulder. Instinctively, he laced his fingers in her hair, scratching at her scalp in slow, tiny circles. Despite her confusion, Percy knew how to talk her through things, and he knew how to calm her down when she was too in her own head.

But as she let herself lean into him, she couldn’t help but remember how hard Nico had cried, thinking she’d hate him for wanting similar love.

“I’ll talk to him about it.” She decided. “After lunch.”

Percy kissed her on the temple, “Good luck.”

Annabeth dragged Nico to lunch, and while he didn’t fight as much as did for breakfast, he did complain the entire way to the dining hall.

“I ate plenty at breakfast!” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I don’t understand why we have so many meals.”

“We’re demi-gods, Nico!” Annabeth bumped her hip against his (although, she was tall for her age, and he was malnourished, it was more like she was bumping his stomach.) “We need the extra fuel because we burn off so many calories when we fight monsters and stress about dying.”

“I-is that true?” He blinked heavily.

“Probably.” She shrugged. “And either way, you definitely need the extra calories.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nico asked, his voice edgy.

“You’re thin. Demi-gods shouldn’t be so thin. It’s unsafe.” She put her hand on his shoulder as gently as she could. “You’re much more likely to bleed out. Or to faint in battle. Or to get snatched up by a hungry griffin, or—”

“I get it!” Nico snapped. He tried to look angry, but Annabeth could see him biting back a laugh.

They both stumbled as the ship lurched to the side with a THUMP! and a loud groan.

“SORRY!” Leo shouted from somewhere above deck, following it up with a slew of mangled spanglish cursing. “SORRY, I’VE GOT IT!”

There was more thumping and shouting. A huge crash echoed down below deck as Percy probably hit whatever thing was up there with a wave. Or maybe Jason was making a bigger-than-average storm.

Nico looked over at Annabeth frantically, but she waved him off.

“Nope, not our problem. Our only problem is getting you fed.”

“And you?” 

“Oh yeah, and me.”

The only person in the dining hall was Hazel. 

She looked uncomfortable, sweat beading on her forehead. Her thick hair was pulled up and tied back with the sleeves of her denim jacket, and her SPQR t-shirt was knotted at her ribcage, like she was feverish and trying to cool off. She was clutching a glass of water in one hand, the table cloth knotted up in her other.

There was a torn open box of Dramamine:Ginger Chews on the plate in front of her. A couple squares of medicine were scattered in front of her, but it didn’t look like she’d taken any.

She glanced at them from the corner of her eye when they entered, but she didn’t turn her head.

“Still feeling sick?” Annabeth asked, plopping down in her usual chair, the one at the head of the table.

“Hello to you too, Annabeth.” Hazel gritted her teeth. 

Nico circled around the table, kissing Hazel on the cheek. “ Stai bene, sorella mia? ”

She shook her head, then let out a low moan, clutching her temples.

“ Spero che ti rimetta presto. ” He pushed one of the Dramamine chews with his pinky. “Eat?”

“Not now.”

“ Ti farà sentire meglio, ” he said, pushing the chew again. “ Per favore? ”

Annabeth put her chin in her hand, silently translating the conversation in her head.

( Are you okay, my sister? // Hope you feel better soon // It will make you feel better // Please?) 

Her plate went poof! As her lunch appeared. 

Nico was probably speaking to Hazel in Italian so Annabeth wouldn’t understand their conversation. She didn’t have the heart to mention she spoke bits and pieces from her time studying Latin, Roman architecture, and Roman culture.

He circled back around, making it to his chair just in time to steady himself as the boat heaved to the other side.

Hazel excused herself to go vomit.

“Um…” he stared down at his empty plate, eyeing Annabeth’s plate of grapes, strawberries (Percy was right, they were good), and regular old cheeseburger and fries. Specifically the ones from Jackson Burgers off E 35th street. 

She and Percy had stopped there once when they were around fourteen. 

They’d both been exhausted, sweaty, and beat up from a particularly annoying fight with a stray Hellhound. He was limping and leaning heavily on her shoulder, which had sent a mosh pit of butterflies in her stomach. 

They’d been walking back to Percy’s place when she spotted the restaurant. She’d made a comment about how he should try for a position there when he was working age because Percy Jackson working at Jackson Burgers would be funny. He said they’d have to test out the food to make sure it was good before he even considered that idea. Annabeth hadn’t been able to think properly when he’d taken her hand, brandished his wallet, and tugged her inside. 

She’d considered that to be one of their first dates, but she had no idea if Percy even remembered it.

Still, the cheeseburgers there remained a comfort food for her.

“Take any of mine if you want,” she offered, “but don’t be afra id to try for your own food.”

Nico nodded.

He focused for a moment, tapping the table and bouncing his leg.

There was that familiar poof! And Nico cocked his head for a moment. He stared at the food on his plate, a dim confusion in his eyes.

It wasn’t anything special. It looked like a small bowl of vegetables and tomato paste. It smelled like it had eggplants in it, and maybe some cooked off red wine.

Annabeth couldn’t place the name. She didn’t know an awful lot about food—she usually relied on camp for that. Maybe Percy would know, but he was busy somewhere above deck.

They sat quietly for a moment, then Nico’s breath caught, his eyes going wide.

“ Caponata, ” he mumbled, pressing a hand to his forehead. “I-I don’t…Um…Hang on.”

He rubbed his temple with two fingers.

Annabeth wanted to put her hand on his arm, but Nico wasn’t a fan of being touched when he wasn’t looking, especially not when he was stressed like this. She laced her fingers together, trying to think of what the hell Caponata might be.

“It’s…” he blinked heavily. “My…mom. She—” he hit the side of his head with his wrist. “She would make this. Um…when we had money to spare. It…used to be expensive to make. I don’t—um…”

“Do you remember what it's made of?” Annabeth asked softly. She tried to keep her voice as gentle as she could. Nico was trembling horribly, and she was afraid if she spoke too loud, he’d crumble to dust.

“Eggplants. Uh…wine? Capers and celery, sometimes. A-and a lot of tomato paste. I—” he shook his head, “I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen much, not when we—when they were cooking. I don’t…think so, at least.”

His face was growing pale, sweat dripping down his temple. It looked like it almost hurt him to remember all of this.

“Hey, how about this,” Annabeth interrupted whatever train of thought he was going down. “We can talk about this after we eat, okay?”

He nodded listlessly.

They ate in total silence. 

Nico’s hands were shaking horribly, and his eyes were unfocused, staring at nothing in particular. Annabeth felt a little more than guilty for enjoying her meal when he seemed so distressed, but she couldn’t think about her mini-date with Percy without feeling a bit warm inside.

The boat had stopped violently rocking a bit ago, settling back into it’s gentle back and forth. A few people tried to enter the dining hall, but Annabeth had shooed them away with a glare, gesturing to Nico. The only person she let stay was Hazel, who plopped herself in the seat beside her brother. She looked considerably less ill, but her nose was scrunched up as she watched Nico eat, like even the idea of food made her nauseous.

“Nico?” She said, tilting her head. “Are you okay?”

Annabeth cut her hand across her throat, but he nodded slowly.

“Just…Hungry.” He said slowly. “I’m alright.”

“Alright…Come to my room if you need anything, okay?” Hazel ruffled his hair, pushing herself out of her chair and wandering off.

There was another long stretch of silence. 

Once Nico finished his meal, Annabeth felt it was safe to continue the conversation.

“Nico,” she started. “I’ve been thinking.”

He glanced over at her, not moving his head. “Mhm?”

“Do you want your memories back?” She pushed her thumbs together, leaning forward over her empty plate. “Because Percy and I might have figured out how to fix them.”

Nico put his fork down, staring into his empty bowl.

The ship groaned as it moved back and forth, back and forth.

“No.”

“No?” Annabeth echoed.

“No. I don’t.” Nico pushed his bowl away, leaning his head back so he was staring straight up at the ceiling. “If that’s what remembering feels like, count me out.”

Annabeth waited a beat, when he didn’t continue she spoke.

“Well, Percy said it wasn’t awful after a bit, but then again, you both were missing your memories for vastly different lengths of time.” She bit her thumbnail. “I’m sure we could find some Gorgon's blood if you’re willing to risk it, but that could be tricky. I’m not great with my rights and lefts, and I don’t want to put you in any danger. I wonder if we—”

“Annabeth!” Nico snapped. “Stop. I said no.”

“Right, sorry,” she said, lowering her voice. She hadn’t noticed she’d been getting louder. “Sorry, I get really into my own head.”

He chewed his lip, furrowing his brow. He looked the same he had just before he came out, a couple days ago. 

“Thank you,” he said, finally.

Annabeth must’ve looked confused, because he tacked on: “For wanting to help. No one’s ever really wanted to help before. No one except you and—” he stopped himself.

The name Bianca hung silently in the air.

“You and Hazel,” he added quickly, his voice shaking. “You and Hazel.”

“I’m glad I uh…” Annabeth paused. I could help? I’m like your sisters? I didn’t overstep too much? She decided on: “I’m glad you can trust me.”

Nico smiled sadly. “Me too.”