A/N: a continuation for percico day. might continue with more little pieces in the story idk will label it as in progress until i make a decision on that. anyway, enjoy! uvu


Once the air had been returned to his lungs, Nico made a serious face and asked, "What was that for?" Percy shrugged, a goofy smirk plastered on his face and his tanned cheeks tinged pink. The son of Hades rolled his eyes, struggling to force a mask of indifference over his blush as Percy intertwined their fingers. "Where are you dragging me off to now?"

"Would you just trust me for ten seconds?"

"After the Subway mix-up I don't think I can ever trust you again."

"And here I thought kissing you would make you forget about that."

"Kiss? You mean shoving your tongue down my throat?"

"Shut up, you liked it," Percy said with a laugh, guiding rather than pulling Nico down 49th Street. The taller demigod didn't seemed fazed by the honking and yelling cabbies as they jaywalked between two cabs on 6th Avenue.

"Di immortales, do you even care about getting hit by a car!?" Nico hissed when they finally made it to the sidewalk.

"New Yorkers stop for no one, Neeks," the taller boy said with a laugh. A few blocks later, Percy pulled Nico out of the flow of pedestrians next to the biggest, most lit golden arches the younger boy had ever seen. "This is Times Square. I know you're not really into the tourist-y stuff, but I mainly wanted to show you this McDonalds. I knew for sure you're into that."

"Fo' sho', how sweet of you," Nico said, face turning bright red when Percy busted out laughing.

"P...Please never say 'fo sho' again," the older demigod said between laughs.

"You always laugh at me when I use the slang I grew up with so I'm trying to...update. Ja feel?" The stiff awkwardness in Nico's voice only made Percy laugh all the harder.

"Oh god, please stop!"

By the time Percy stopped laughing completely, they were back on the subway. The taller boy once again had Nico by the waist as he leaned against a rail. Some punk behind them coughed the word "faggots" into his hand then laughed with his buddies. The glare Nico subsequently leveled on said punk held all the murderous, manic hellfire in them that Hades himself was known to exude. That quickly shut up the group of punks and when Nico turned back to Percy, the taller had a proud grin on his face.

"What? What's that face for?"

"You're so mean and angry...you're becoming a New Yorker already, I'm so proud."

"Shut up!"

As they left the subway, Percy hinted that he had a big surprise. Nico felt a little worried but let Percy lead him down streets whose names he didn't recognize. "Ok, now you have to close your eyes," the taller boy said excitedly.

"Percy––"

"Close 'em!" Nico rolled his eyes before shutting them, focusing on keeping his foot as his guide led him a little further. "Open!"

"Oh my god," was all the son of Hades could say as he read the illuminated awning: Da Nico Ristorante.

"Isn't this great? A little Italian named Nico in Little Italy at Da Nico."

"You're such a dork," Nico said with a snort. The grumble that ripped out of the shorter boy's stomach cut through the conversation and Percy chuckled.

"Let's get something to eat."

Percy had been right. Nothing could compare to New York street food. They had found a little cart that sold meatball subs then walked to a nearby park (something "Roosevelt"?) to eat on a bench. When Nico took a bite, the flavor of the marinara sparked a memory he hadn't known he had.

"This reminds me of my mom's marinara," he said out of nowhere.

"What?" Percy asked, quickly wiped his arm across his mouth to remove excess sauce.

"She...she used to spend all day making this...old family recipe of marinara sauce whenever we could get tomatoes. I...put it on everything, even hamburgers," Nico's face fell slightly. Of all the things to remember, why marinara sauce?

"That's gross."

"Shut up, I've seen you put maple syrup on eggs. That is dis––" Nico was cut off suddenly by Percy's lips. He melted into it for a moment before pulling back sharply, "Did you get a pound of garlic on that thing?"

"Maybe," the son of Poseidon chuckled then finished off his sandwich, "It's getting dark and there's one last place I wanna take you."

"And let me guess, you're not going to tell me where?"

"Of course not! That'll ruin the surprise!"

"More surprises, huh?"

"Yeah it's an Italian restaurant called Cute and Angry, makes me think of you."

"How sweet, you must be Prince Charming. Or do you prefer being called The Little Mermaid?"

"Merman! You're hurting my street cred, Nico."

"Sorry, shawty."

"Stop saying shawty!"

"Now you're hurting my street cred."

The duo once again headed down into a subway station, and Nico was starting to really appreciate the subway by the third time around. It didn't matter who you were, how much money you made, where you lived, or how you lived; people of all walks of life rode the trains. And, aside from the homophobic punks from earlier, subway-folk upheld the sort of unwritten law of Big City Indifference. So when Percy gripped his waist and pulled them flush against each other, there were no snide comments or odd looks. And if Nico rested his head on his companion's shoulder, nobody minded, not even Percy himself.

Brooklyn Heights, that's what Percy had called it. The buildings weren't quite as tall and were more populated with apartments than offices, parents hurried their children along the sidewalk as the sunlight began to dwindle. But even though the sounds of sirens echoed between the brownstones it felt much calmer than Manhattan had.

Percy led them through block after block and Nico complained that his feet were killing him. This stopped the son of Poseidon in his tracks and he turned to Nico, "Close your eyes again."

"Wh––"

"Just do it, please," Percy had the best wounded puppy dog eyes Nico had ever seen, so the younger boy gave up and closed his eyes. His heart leapt into his throat when he was suddenly off the sidewalk and in a pair of strong arms instead. He tried to slow his breathing and heart rate as he clutched tightly to Percy's shoulders. An indeterminable amount of time passed before Nico was finally on his own feet again. "Open 'em," was whispered in his ear and he obeyed, gaping the moment he did.

There, just across the water, was the Lower Manhattan skyline. Lights of all colors reflected off the East River, the brightest of them being the top of the Empire State Building. To the right, the swooping wires of the Brooklyn Bridge were lit up from one end to the other. Far to the left, the Statue of Liberty was illuminated on Liberty Island and Nico wondered if any of his family members had seen it from Ellis Island, had any of them been drawn to the city like he was? Percy's voice brought him out of his reverie, during which he hadn't noticed that the taller demigod had been watching him the entire time.

"Y'know, when I told you I'd take you to see the city, I spent all this time trying to figure out what to take you to see. I knew you didn't care about the usual tourist stuff, but I didn't know how to show you New York. Annabeth liked to look at buildings and architecture, but you don't care about stuff like that. What could possibly impress you? What would you even want to see?"

Nico interrupted, feeling anger start to rise in his stomach, "I get it, I'm difficult. You didn't––"

"No, it's not that," Percy stopped him, "It's just that...you're this ridiculously mature kid, way more mature than me even though I have 4 years on you, and I didn't think you'd give a shit about Times Square or anything like that. So...I just took you to all the places that remind me of you, because when I'm here you're all I think about anyway." Nico thought about that for a moment. The sculpture of Atlas, the Times Square McDonalds, the Italian restaurant named Da Nico, meatball sandwiches; that all made sense when he considered it. He could see how Percy related those things to him, but the skyline view made no sense.

"But...why here? How does something like..." he gestured to the amazing view set out before them, "Like this remind you of me?"

"Because it's beautiful," the older demigod answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then after a beat of silence, wherein Nico's heart was hammering in his ears, Percy added, "But not as beautiful as you."

"That was pretty cheesy, even for you."

"Shut up! I'm trying to be honest," tanned skin flushed pink before Percy continued, "It's also supposed to be a really romantic place where everyone goes for first dates and stuff so..."

"This is...this is a date?"

"You couldn't tell by the way I, quote, 'stuck my tongue down your throat'?"

"I thought you were just being friendly. Give a guy a little warning next time, Perce. Now shut up," Nico said, a smirk making it's way onto his face before he leaned up on the tips of his toes to press his lips to Percy's.

Yeah, Nico definitely loved Perc––

Ahem. New York. He definitely loved New York.