A/N

I have nothing to say this week. I know you're all very sad you're not going to have to read twenty paragraphs of my rambling, but you'll just have to hold back those tears.

Last week:

His hands moved to the back of my head and he pulled me even closer towards him, heat playing across my face as I felt his body temperature begin to rise.

'Hey! You two! Get a bloody room!'

I pulled back from Nico, shocked to my senses by the shout. Nico was turning red as he quickly sprung away from me, pushing himself to his feet and dusting the sleet off his dark trousers. As he offered a hand which I used to pull myself up, I searched for the owner of the voice.

There.

A teenage boy, not much older than us, leaning over a balcony too our left, the smirk on his face obvious even from this distance. Gazing downward, he raked a hand through his gelled blond hair and continued to call to us.

'I mean, guys, it's cute and all, but my kid sister hangs out on this street with her friends. She really doesn't need to be emotionally scarred by the sight of the two of you practically going at it. I mean, that's what hotels and junk are for.'

I was feeling somewhat awkward. Now balcony-boy wasn't the only one looking at us – the other inhabitants of the street had decided to come see what the ruckus was about. The couple that we had seen earlier drifted over, mitten-clad hands gripping one another. An old lady who had been feeding birds when we walked past raised her head, and I'm sure that if Mr Cyclops had been here, he would've joined the party as well.

I darted a glance a Nico, whose complexion had returned to its usual deathly-white state.

'What do we do?' I hissed. My only reply was a slight lift of the shoulders.

Balcony-boy seemed to be expecting some sort of answer as he surveyed us idly from his perch. I cleared my throat and called back.

'Uh – okay. Thank you for warning us. We'll, um, we'll be sure to 'get a room' next time. Sorry about that …'

I tacked an awkward grin onto the end of my eloquent speech, and, grabbing Nico's hand, scuttled off in the opposite direction, dragging him with me.

When we were a reasonable distance away, I dropped his hand and stopped, resting against the side of a building as I sucked air back into my lungs. Nico didn't even seem out of breath as he crossed his arms and watched me re-oxidise myself. When I could breathe easily once more, I leant back onto the cool stone, admiring the boy that stood before me. His dark hair was tousled, both from the kissing and the running, and his cheeks held a tinge of pink. The image of the icy pavement we had been laying on was imprinted into his elbows.

I sighed.

Even out here, without the threat of our friends, the universe still seemed set on interrupting us. Admittedly, the edge of a public street may not have been the best place to decide to take our relationship to the next level, but, nonetheless, it was still rather frustrating.

I wonder if Nico was thinking the same thing. Even now, I still had trouble reading him. I think it may have been the difficulty of his childhood years, most specifically his sister's death, now coupled with his time in Tartarus, that closed him off so much to the world. He was certainly more open now than when I had met him, than on that fateful night when I had seen him, really seen him, for the first time.

But Percy's stories, of the Nico he had first met years ago, a little boy in love with the idea of gods and monsters, with his cards and figurines – I still couldn't match the two images together. That innocent boy, with no ides of the horrors he would face, and this boy here. A boy who had been shattered from the inside out, and try as I might, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to put him back together.

'Let's get ice-cream.' I announced without warning.

I was getting too depressive. What was it I had said to Nico? 'I'm meant to be the sassy, funny, cool one in this relationship, and you're meant to be the thoughtful quiet one?' Well I certainly wasn't going to mantain my preferred job description if I kept this up. Too much thinking so early in the morning did horrors for one's digestion.

Nico's gaze on me was sceptical. 'Ice-cream? It's the middle of winter. Who in their right mind would eat ice-cream in this weather?'

I gave him a double thumbs up and grinned.

'I'd have thought you would have realised by now – I'm not in my right mind. Anyways, ice-cream is good in all weather. The cold milkiness, combined with the goodness of large amounts of sugar – it even comes in flavours for gods sake; what's not to like about it?!'

'It's the middle of winter and ice-cream is a summer food.' came Nico's reply. 'You're not meant to eat cold things in cold weather. It's not right. Anyway, do we even have any money?'

Now that I was prepared for.

'Yesiree.' I replied. 'I can pull mortal money out of this belt as well as other stuff. I am ri-i-ich.' I sang the last bit, twirling around on the spot and drawing the attention of a stray dog that was wandering past, who gave me what I assume was the dog equivalent of a confused look. Nico was regarding me with much the same expression, though I did notice the hint of a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. Leaning forward and placing a kiss on his cheek in an attempt to encourage it, I grabbed his hand and began to skip towards what appeared to be a main street. Our joined hands swung back and forth as I sung.

'Ice-cream ice-cream, we're getting some ice-cream, la de da de da. Ice-cream is so yummy and sweet na na na na na.'

'You do know that singing words doesn't make them a song.' Nico interjected from a few steps behind me. He was refusing to skip, opting instead to scurry awkwardly in my wake.

I dropped my pace back to a walk as we neared the busier road, falling into step beside him.

'Do you really not like ice-cream?' I asked, somewhat incredulously.

'No, it's not that.' he assured me. 'Ice-cream is perfectly fine – in fact I quite like it. It just seems rather nonsensical to eat it when it's so cold.'

I considered this statement and nodded.

'I suppose that does make sense. I'm just never really cold. Even now, when everyone else is bundled up in coats and scarves …'

I trailed off as I realised something, turning to look at him.

'Nico! Oh gods, you must be half freezing to death. Why didn't you bring any warmer clothes, or at least say something?'

He ducked his head shyly away from my gaze, eyes dropping to the pavement.

'I didn't think it would be this cold – it's always warm on the ship. And it's alright – I can cope pretty well with cold. I'm just … a little chilly.'

I sidled up next to him, breaking the link our hands made to gesture towards his shoulders.

'Um, is it okay if I …' I blushed.

At first, Nico seemed somewhat confused, but realisation dawned and he nodded, even as his face was suffused with pink.

'Oh, ah yes of course.' he mumbled.

I awkwardly draped my arm around his shoulders, pulling him in closer to me as we walked. An awkward sort of tense silence draped itself over us. This reminded me once again of the time we first kissed – I'd had to share my body heat with him that time too.

'Doesn't this remind you of the first time we kissed?' as Nico, eyes still downcast.

I started, staring at him.

'Yes; that's what I was just thinking.'

There was silence once more, but this time it felt almost … comfortable. Nico was again the one to break it.

'So … let's get that ice-cream, hey?'

A/N

So … exciting news … I have another PJ fanfic in the works! The first chapter should be up sometime in the next few weeks; no reveals yet but it is another story full of story-less romantic fluff amongst an obscure pairing.

So look out for that!