Percy Jackson, The Missing Hero.

40. Disneyworld: Leo's Dream Quest Location.

The first night on the Argo II.V was an interesting one.

After a minor dispute between Nico and Apollo over the former Shadow Traveling again, much to the bemusement of their company, Nico had simply taken the god with him. They'd returned with enough food to feed a small army, Apollo muttering indignantly about the lack of nutritional value and the lack of variety in a teenage demigod's diet. Everyone had chosen to ignore him.

The evening that had followed felt exactly like one of the few that the entire crew got to spend together on their trip to Greece, just with a few extra people on board and a number of them still under the impression Percy was missing. It had been weird, interacting with Annabeth in a setting he couldn't really escape from. He knew any ounce of hostility he showed towards her would be met with confusion and give away further unnecessary clues to his identity, but acting like a passing acquaintance was difficult. He wanted to still be upset with her, to have had the opportunity to get used to seeing her around again and accept that if he wanted to come home, seeing her would be something he had to get used to. He just didn't expect it would be like this, thrust into close proximity that he couldn't just walk away from.

Despite his initial reservations, it was easier than he had predicted to utilise the space of the large mess hall and place the most distance he could between himself and Annabeth without it seeming weird. It was worth it though, even if he'd had to watch Thalia interrogate Luke about Zoë from across the room when he had wanted nothing more to join the carnage of his Lieutenant's flustered responses. He'd kept his distance, idling with Apollo and Icarus for the majority of the evening while Nico floated in and out of their corner of the room.

"Sleep alright?" Nico asked softly from the other side of the cabin, obviously having noticed that he was awake and staring at the ceiling as he mentally ran-through the events of the night before.

"As well as I could," Percy sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "You?"

"Nightmares," Nico answered simply.

"Do you want to talk about them?" Percy offered, wanting to provide a willing ear.

"Are you coherent enough to carry a conversation?" Nico teased softly. "Or do I need to go and get you a coffee before I get emotional?"

"You know that I'm not usually that bad in the mornings, yesterday was an exception," Percy huffed. "I was tired!"

"Yeah, well, shift over." Nico rolled out of his own bed and started to amble across the room towards Percy. "I'll poke you if you start to fall asleep on me."

Percy genuinely couldn't think of an occasion when he had seen Nico wearing the orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that he had slept in, slightly too large and clearly several years old if the slightly faded quality of it was any indication. It clearly didn't fit him properly, too loose and a little too long, as if Nico had stolen it from someone taller. It was that point he realised who it probably belonged to and the teasing comment that had been about to roll off his tongue vanished.

"Come on then." Percy held the side of his duvet up and pretended to roll his eyes. "Talk to your big brother."

"There are times when I hate you," Nico informed him but flopped down beside him all the same. "Deep, deep down, there's a hatred that resides within me."

"You don't have an evil bone in your body, just a funny one - especially if you think I'll believe that you hate me," Percy laughed. "So, want to talk about it?"

"I've always had nightmares," Nico started slowly. "Dreams and death - particularly dreams about death - are old friends of mine, so usually I've got some level of control over them. I thought I had a handle on them, but talking about Will so much recently..."