Chapter Text
Nico sat against a tree, humming a tune Will had been singing earlier when he’d left for his infirmary shift. The forest was moderately quiet, trees blowing in the late afternoon breeze, and for the first time in a while, Nico felt at peace.
He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes as he turned the page of his notebook. He grabbed the pencil he’d stolen from Leo’s workshop to write a line that’d been ping-ponging around his mind, when–
A meow from beside him caught him off guard. His eyes widened in an instant, darting around his surroundings to check for monsters, only to find a… gatto ? A sleek, black cat with piercing, dark copper eyes was pawing at his jeans, catching its claws on the rips.
“What are you doing here, Zucchero?” He cooed, reaching down to pet the cat, who backed away until he let it sniff his hand. After smelling him, it seemed to calm, rubbing its head on Nico’s thigh like it wanted to be pet. “Oh, you’re cute, aren’t you!” Nico giggled, sporting a baby voice he only let out around animals.
The cat meowed a bit more, its eyes wide, like they saw through to his soul. Nico patted the cat for a few more moments until he asked it a question. “Who's your owner, Gattino?” He moved to the side, eyeing its neck. “You don’t have a collar.” The cat meowed louder at that, squinting its eyes in a way Annabeth had once said basically translated to ‘I love you’ in cat lingo.
Nico chuckled at that, “Oh gods, aren’t you precious!” His journal was long abandoned, left for dead in favour of the most adorable kitty he’d ever seen. There were stray cats around Italy when he was young, but they were frowned upon, and many locals refused to touch them because they were ‘dirty’. Nico never fed into that, but even so, he’d never approached or touched one before. It seemed intuitive enough, though.
Nico petted the cat’s head, scratching behind its ears to hear it mew. Nico cooed, scratching harder, only for the cat to topple onto its back. Nico gasped. “You want a tummy scratch?”
The cat mewed with more intensity, and Nico obliged, giggling.
Nico sat there, petting the cat for a matter of minutes until the curfew warning conch shell sounded.
“Sorry, sweet boy, I have to go.” He stood, but the animal simply meowed in annoyance. “I know, I know, I’m sorry.” He picked up his journal. “I’ll see you tomorrow? Here?”
The cat looked to the floor like it was sad. Or angry – it was hard to tell with cats.
“I promise, I’ll come here straight after breakfast, okay?”
Okay, that was definitely a sigh out of its snout.
“Promise!” Nico called over his shoulder, waving.
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Nico kept his word, showing up the next day at the same tree after he had his breakfast (3 strawberries and some peppermint tea, to be exact). Will had caught his hand, asking where he was going, but Nico just shrugged while trudging off to the forest, saying it was important, because it was! He didn’t want to disappoint the little kitty!
When Nico finally got to the tree, though, the cat was nowhere to be seen. “Kitty?” He called out, head swivelling around to search for it.
A sudden meow, and the cat was at his feet, stretching out its legs on his calf. “Hi, precious!!” Nico spoke in his baby voice, scritching the cat on his head. “Thank you for staying here!”
He sat in the same spot as yesterday, up against the tree. The rest of the day was spent occasionally sketching or writing poems, though it was mostly taken up by him petting or playing with the cat. It really seemed to love being around him, though Nico didn’t even know where it came from. He wasn’t complaining, though.
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The days drifted by, Nico passing the time with the cat by his side in the forest. On the fifth day, Nico found the cat perched on a rock, sleeping as it basked in the sun. He couldn’t believe cats actually did that, not just in the movies Leo had shown him.
“Hey Gattino!” He greeted, scritching at its chin. It leaned into him, mewing softly before falling back asleep.
Nico was content in the quiet, instead placing himself next to the rock to be near the cat. He still had no idea where it had come from or who its owner could be – he didn’t know of anyone at camp who owned any pets (other than Leo and Festus), and they were in the only establishment for miles.
“Are you a stray, Micio?” The cat blinked its eyes open and looked up at him, galaxies in its eyes. “I think that’s a yes?” His fingers trailed down its back. “Would you be my cat?”
In response, the cat leaned forward, nuzzling its head against Nico’s arm. “Oh, that’s a yes!!” Nico giggled, “Okay, so I’m assuming you don’t have a name.” The cat meowed softly, pawing at Nico’s arm. “That’s okay, I can name you!” He paused, searching his surroundings for possible names. “Uhhh, what to call you…” Nico trailed off.
He could call it tree or grass? Yeah, no, those sucked. He looked under the cat to see moss. Moss? Ugh . It didn’t sound cute enough to do the cat justice. Wait, underneath the moss: the rock!
On second thought, Rock was a terrible name for a cat. Nico pouted – that reminded him of something! He thought back to the Greek lessons with Malcom from the Athena Cabin. Malcolm had explained that many names from each culture originated from Greek words.
He’d said something like “A lot of nature ones too! Like Chloé, meaning ‘blooming’, or Pierre, a French name derived from ‘Petro’ or ‘Petra’, the Greek name for rock. It’s quite fascinating, actually…” Nico didn’t remember the rest, but that didn’t matter; he had his name!
“Aww. You know what, I’ll name you Pierre!”
Pierre mewed happily, purring under his hand. It was perfect! It reminded Nico of Jules-Albert, his zombie chauffeur, too, which made him laugh.
He didn't expect to befriend a cat, but there they were.