#Nico has trauma

[lookingthroughmirrors]

What do you think about Percy and Nico or Pernico?

(Please no hate, I know people have a lot of opinions and this is simply mine based on my interpretation of the characters and not meant as an attack on anyone)

Hi 👋

I really like pernico, at least in some of the fanfics I’ve seen but I prefer it when they’re older and come back together. I really think the Percy and Nico friendship gets overlooked quite a bit, personally because I think a lot of people see Nico as a kid, and in comparison don’t see Percy like that.

I mean that more so when it comes to Bianca. I’ve seen different takes that it was Percy’s fault, that Percy purposely hurt Nico, that Percy doesn’t deserve to mourn Bianca.

1. I think Pernico no matter when it’s set, needs to address Bianca in some capacity, because it is such an integral part of their arc. I think for Percy there is always a guilt that he’ll have, survivor guilt or otherwise about what happened to Bianca and that should be acknowledged. It is also the first death that happens so directly in front of Percy, and his reaction shows that in comparison to later deaths in botl and tlo. Percy was used as a scapegoat in this situation for Nico’s anger at Bianca’s untimely death (and her somewhat abandonment of him but that’s a whole other thing). I think this is why I like older pernico so much, because often times they’ve dealt with or are dealing with this to some extent and I don’t see how the ship would work without first dealing with this.

2. I think the ship only works once Nico is passed the hero worship and later hatred of Percy. I think Nico has a lot of issues he needs to deal with and that he’d have to be doing that first before pernico could work. Tho I do love doomed relationship fics. I think they’d both have to reevaluate how they view one another for it to work (ie. Percy was a child put in an impossible situation, Nico was the same, the blame game was played, Nico is not one extreme or the other). Moral of the point, they need to sort their individual shit out first, and their issues between each other before a relationship could work, but I really think it would and really love the idea of them being together.

3. In some aspects I think Pernico, after going through points 1 and 2, is healthier than what I know of Solangelo or Percabeth in canon. Now this isn’t bashing but I do think both Solangelo and Percabeth are toxic in ways that aren’t as wildly addressed both in canon and fanon. The stuff with Nico’s powers always bothered me. He’s extremely powerful, and i think he kinda ends up nerfed in later books and things like Will banning him from shadow travelling for his health. One point is I think a child of Hades knows more about shadow travel and it’s affects than a child of Apollo, doctor or not. I also think that Nico had a tendency to overextend his powers in canon, which it’s shown when Percy does the same thing he’s heavily drained, nearly passes out ect. I think Percy would be able to help Nico in exercising his powers, as I think that’s the big issue really. I also think Nico as a character would be very tied to the Greek world and live more in that world than the mortal world, which despite canon I think would suit Percy. I think the whole New Rome College thing is odd, and he’s clearly going for Annabeth. Percy hated school, and I think it’s much more likely he went on to train halfbloods or worked in legion in New Rome than going to university.

(This is so much longer than I intended, sorry)

Overall, I think Percy and Nico (both in a relationship and as friends) have a lot of potential that wasn’t lived up to. There are definitely ways it could be toxic, but not more than any other ship has the potential to be if broken down (Percabeth, Piper and Jason and the fact he had no memory, Solangelo, the weirdness that is Leo and Calypso). Ultimately I think Pernico can prove to be a stronger ship than a lot of others too, because they’ve seen each other at their worst, they’ve seen each other stripped back and raw and grieving and they have seen each other in ways nobody else has. Percy knew Nico before he lost Bianca, he knew that side of Nico. Nico saw Percy through the war, through everything during the last Olympian. He saw him command the river Styx and wasn’t scared (which begs the comparison of Percabeth in Tartarus and Annabeth making Percy feel so bad about a particular power that he wouldn’t use it even when it meant he would die and ultimately had to be saved by a third party). They’ve seen each other grow and change, and that in turn changes people. I truly think once you get past the trauma that taints all their interactions, once they address and move past it, they are much better than many other ships. They seen the worst, and I think with that they’d find it much easier to be vulnerable with one another and show parts of themselves that they don’t show anyone else. I definitely like Pernico far better than Percabeth.

I honestly didn’t mean to write an entire essay on Pernico and my opinions but here we are. If you’ve read this far I hope I answered your question.

[aroaceleovaldez]

underappreciated Nico detail that I like - he seems to be an angry crier! very frequently he's angry when he cries and he cries when he's extremely angry. very AuDHD of him. emotional regulation sucks my guy and he's just going through it.

[cosmicrhetoric]

i know she's in hardcore villain mode rn but putting luffy's hat on top of her own hat as a joke is soooo robin she's so funny for this <3

[mediumgayitalian]

“Will. Hey.” He reaches out when the medic doesn’t react, forcibly stilling his hands. Even then, he can feel the minute twitches, the fighting he’s doing with himself to keep still. “It can wait until tomorrow.”

“They leave tomorrow,” Will stresses, finally pulling his hands free. “The Romans are early risers, Nico, you know better than anyone, I need this done before they —”

He cuts himself off, too invested in the sprawl of paperwork completely covering the nurse’s station. Under his eyes is almost completely bruised black, not unlike the war paint he wore so long ago, and there’s a grey dullness to him. If he stays in one place too long, he sways on his feet.

“I’m fine,” he says, suddenly, as if remembering Nico is there. He pauses briefly to shoot him a small, strained smile, then returns to his frantic sorting. A red thumbprint bleeds onto the corner of the page of one of the files. He doesn’t seem to notice.

Without straying too far, Nico gathers the supplies he needs. He pulls out a tray to grab some antiseptic, swipes a Pac-Man bandaid off a box on the counter. Arms laden with his spoils, he nudges the half-door open with his hip, setting the supplies down when he’s inside the round desk-station.

“Will,” he says quietly, wrapping his hand around his elbow. He jumps.

“I’m — fine.”

“You’re bleeding.”

He blinks, staring down at his hands; brows furrowing as he notices the several scattered paper cuts crossing almost every finger. Many of them are clotted, scabbed over; dried blood streaking between his freckles and swirling around stark white scars.

“Come here.”

Without protest, for once, he does. He sets down the pen clenched in his left thumb and turns to face Nico fully. In the minimal space between them, his hands shake.

“I didn’t notice,” he murmurs, flinching as Nico soaks a cotton pad and presses it to a cut on the inside of his thumb. Nico can’t quite read the expression on his face, although there’s a choked quality to his voice. “I need to — before they —”

“Not everything is your responsibility,” Nico interrupts. He meets Will’s gaze head on, his own gaze steady, heart breaking at the fragility in his ice blue eyes. “Not everything is your responsibility, Will,” he repeats, firmer this time.

Will’s face crumples. “I haven’t slept in five days.”

Nico closes his eyes. “Gods, Will.”

“I’m sorry.”

In moments like these, Nico hates working for his father.

He had left to relative chaos. Relative, meaning in comparison to what the rest of the eight billion people on the planet would consider calm, camp wasn’t it, but by demigod standards it wasn’t too bad. Several Romans, including Reyna and Hazel, were due to arrive the day after he was summoned by his father, which was a bummer, but he had assurance from both of them that they’d stay long enough to see him. And reassurance from his father that the errand wouldn’t be too perilous. And, lastly, a threat (warning out of love, he would say, but Nico knows a threat when he sees one) from Will to take it easy.

He got back to debris and blood and a flurry of stress — a weapons development disaster, he’d been quickly informed. No deaths, at least not yet, but several in critical condition that were quickly approaching it.

And Kayla and Austin, back at school, and Will in the infirmary by himself.

“Will,” he repeats for the third time, a little more urgently this time. He places a gently finger under his chin. “Look at me a second.”

He regrets asking, almost, when Will meets his eyes, although he immediately feels guilty for the thought. The son of Apollo is so rarely vulnerable, stubbornly intent on carrying the burdens he’s stuck with without half a hand of help. It wears on him, and the proof of the weariness hurts Nico somewhere, deep in his soul; he hates bearing witness to it.

Worse, though, is the knowledge that Will is struggling with it himself.

“Everybody critical has been stabilized,” he says firmly. When Will opens his mouth in protest, he adds, “I can feel it, Sunshine, do you trust me?”

“Yes,” he says, immediately. He snaps his jaw shut. “Yes.”

Nico’s own shoulders slump when Will exhales, long and exhausted. “Good. This —” he gestures to the paperwork — “this is secondary, Solace. I don’t care if they want to leave tomorrow. You need rest, and, hell, if they’re that pressed about it, I’ll make them do the fucking paperwork.”

“Please, don’t,” Will says, laughing feebly. He swiped quickly under his eyes, pulling away, and Nico lets him, if only because his small smile seems genuine, if not exhausted. “The idea of that actually makes me want to puke. I hate paperwork, but I hate anyone else doing it more.”

“Right, right.” Nico nudges his shoulder, something like teasing showing in his eyes. “Heaven forbid someone dot their i’s incorrectly.”

“Exactly.” Will looks so serious that Nico stills, trying to figure out just how anal, exactly, his friend is, before his face breaks out into a wide, genuine grin. Nico’s stomach flips. “I’m only teasing, Death Breath. I don’t actually care if people dot their i’s incorrectly. And I would appreciate the help.”

“I feel like it hurt you to say that,” Nico says, once he recovers from the staggering force of one million megawatts of smile power.

“It did.”

“Also, you implied that there genuinely is a wrong way to dot your i’s.”

“…Of course there is.” Will looks at him strangely. “Maybe I’m not the one who’s sleep deprived,” he muses, reminding Nico that oh yeah, dumbass, Will is actually genuinely sick with how little sleep he’s gotten, maybe fix that.

“Will you sleep, now?”

Will hesitates. “There was a girl with a — skull injury.”

Nico understands immediately. (He saw the mangled mess of Lee’s shroud.)

“Come sleep in my cabin,” he suggests, squeezing his wrist. “I’ll keep watch, and you’ll have some privacy.”

“Okay,” he says quietly. He allows himself to be tugged out of the infirmary, only looking back a couple times. “Thank you, Nico.”

“Anything for you,” Nico responds, just as quiet, and his heart races when Will beams.

[thaliasthunder]

i would have laughed at nico's trauma joke sorry will but im different (traumatized & mentally ill)

[punkeropercyjackson]

I have the reverse of the Cain Instinct.My siblings can do no wrong in my eyes even when they're being huge dickbags and when people are mean to them my reaction is to yell at them to get off their asses or hit them.The Nightwing Instinct?Idk

[writer-room]

You ever just see people talk about the Percy Jackson books and know somewhere, deep in your heart, that none of these people have understood that this is a series made for middle schoolers. And that fandom will very frequently lie to them like, all the time. No, that character probably isn’t ooc, you’re just thinking of what the fandom turned them into. No, this book isn’t a horrible stain next to the others before it, literally all of them were like this. It’s Percy Jackson. It’s cheesy and occasionally makes a very questionable writing decision.

You gotta be in this for the long haul or jump ship my guys. Be cringe and free or be gone

[allthefunnystuffistaken]

I HAD A THOUGT SO IMMA TYPE IT OUT

ok so like- will RUNS into nico’s cabin looking frantic af. And so obviously Nico’s like “wtf.” And will’s just like “are you okay? No nightmares? Ur fine? You don’t need me?” And at first Nico’s confused bc he hasn’t even slept at this point but then he realized it’s WILL who had a nightmare. It’s WILL who’s not okay. It’s WILL who needs a safe environment. But will won’t admit it. Will feels like he has to be the healer and he can’t ever need healing, including in a mental/emotional way. So Nico plays along. He acts like he did have a nightmare so will doesn’t feel awkward abt it. And ofc will can tell when Nico lies who by this point he understands that Nico is merely pretending, but he’s okay with that. He’s with his boyfriend and he feels safe and now he knows it’s ok for him to need help too.

You’re welcome. >:)

[solisaureus]

i am so emotional about the fact that nico having trauma-related memory loss is canon now...like this is the representation i didn't know i needed....but ive been headcanoning him that way for ages and it just felt really validating to see him talk about it in the sun and the star

[fortunatefires]

Nico fighting his literal demons in tartarus and choosing love and hope? Recognizing that darkness and light can exist within the same person and allowing himself to let go of his shame, grief, and trauma?

[staticvn]

if my boy nico won’t get proper therapy after the sun and the star i WILL kms. that is a threat.

[lookingthroughmirrors]

Which Characters would be "the seven" to you? Or you wouldn't like to change the group? I'm asking this because there are other amazing characters like Clarisse, Thalia, Nico...so, would you want to change and take someone from the seven and put another? Or you prefer the way it is?

This is such a good question! (Also quick warning I mention events in both Trials of Apollo and HOO)

I think I would definitely change the seven at least somewhat. Percy 100%. Then Jason, because he kinda acted as Percy’s opposite in a lot of ways, or at least that’s how his character was framed in the beginning, as they both go missing and lose their memories. Hazel and Frank I would keep too, because I don’t really have much of an opinion on either of them, but I do think they both played important roles (and kinda just love Frank and Hazel’s powers). They’ve also got some very cool powers between them aswell. Nico would be a member, because I kinda already think of him as a member and I think he would play a big role, there is a criminal lack of him working with Percy (like he wasn’t with Percy for a large majority of TLO). Nico deserved better, and is such a cool character and would’ve added to the quest much more. Then it’s kinda hard, but I’d probably go Thalia and Leo. Thalia because, she’s a badass and would’ve been such a good addition and really didn’t deserve to only pop up a few times following TTC. Then Leo, one because I think it’s really interesting how his evasion of death plays into Jason’s eventual death, and he built the Argo II. That also brings up my point that I think Percy and Leo had the opportunity to be amazing friends and for some reason weren’t written that way.

So, I suppose my Seven would be: Percy, Jason, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Thalia and Leo.

I do think though that you could just as easily put Clarisse or one of the Stoll’s in aswell. Even Chris? Personally I’d probably even make an argument for Pollux, because he deserved much more attention than just his few mentions. I really think that Seven could change quite easily and the story still function essentially the same, there are some characters that don’t need to be there, and some I would definitely change.

I hope this answers your question anon!!!

[aroaceleovaldez]

Every description about Nico (especially the canon ones) describing him as “cold” can personally fight me. Nico is jaded, yes, and often closed-off and sometimes stand-offish and defensive but he is not "cold”. He cares SO SO SO MUCH about EVERYONE. He loves and cares with his entire heart constantly and that is a core part of his character. He doesn’t often make public shows of his affection but he takes care to be kind when it matters and doesn’t hide that he does care (usually, the only exception really being him being in the closet, but even then he only hid his crush specifically and not the fact that Percy is important to him). He fine with hugging his friends in front of a crowd and will sit with strangers at a campfire just so they’re not alone. I mean, heck, he’s an extrovert! We know this! He actively seeks out people and gets lonely very quickly and easily! If he can’t talk to living people he will chat with the dead! That’s how much he thrives on being social!

The only time Nico has ever been actively “cold” was the couple of months between TTC and BoTL when he was actively mourning Bianca. Nico is not “cold.” He loves so much and he does show it, just in his own way.

[bugwolfsstuff]

I gave Travis Stoll my tired eldest sibling issues

He dances to surface pressure now and is constantly five seconds from breaking down

[beanghostprincess]

i have a whole analysis in mind as to why ace, robin and sanji's backstories are pretty much parallelisms and they have very similar trauma responses but i'm probably not writing shit because then i will have the biggest breakdown known to mankind

[darkcrowprincess]

(Don't like don't read. Post hate and I'll block you)

Thaila: I'll lead the Hunters this way, Luke you go with Percy, Jason, and Nico.

Luke annoyed: why am stuck babysitting the over powered idiot trio?

Said idiot trio Percy, Jason and Nico were arguing about which direction they should go on the ancient Greek map. Not noticing it's upside down.

Thaila with a smirk: Your a son of Hermes. It's part of your probation, plus it amuses me. Karma happening in real time

Luke: Hey I killed myself to save you idiots and the whole world from my dumb mistakes. I think that's as much justified karma as you can get in my pathetic existence.

Percy stops arguing with Nico and Jason, is anxious when he heard Luke talking about his death: Luke!

Luke turns around at Percy voice, his face noticeable softens: What?

Percy has a haunted look on his face. Nico, Jason stop arguing and stare at Percy worried.

Percy looks haunted: Don't talk about your death like that. Or yourself.

Luke face turn surprisingly gentle at Percy's care.

Luke walks up to the trio and mainly Percy. He gently grabs the map out of Percy's hands. Their fingertips touch.

Luke turns the map the right way: The maps upside down Percy.

Percy blushes: Oh.

Luke smiles. Turns to the other two.

Luke huffs: Fine. But you three need to listen to me got it? Do exactly as I say.

Nico and Jason: Yes.

Percy still blushing: S-sure Luke.

Thalia is smirking: 😏

Luke to Thalia: Shut up

Luke to the idiot trio: We go this way.

Percy *eagerly* follows close behind Luke. Nico and Jason behind them.

Jason whispers to Nico, gestures at Percy and Luke: So are we not going to talk about 'that'.

Nico being his gay emo self whispers back: Nope.