Some Percico One Shots

Loosening Up

Percy had made it his mission to spend more time with Nico after the Giant War. He was surprised when Nico had said yes to spending the afternoon together in New York, but excited nonetheless. Now he was starting to regret it.

Percy had suggested a small walk around town to catch up, especially since they rarely had any interaction on the Argo II. The war had taken a toll on them, and as a result, their friendship had suffered as well. Percy longed to have that old relationship back, so he made it his goal to get close to the son of Hades once again.

They were both walking in silence, hands deep in their coat pockets, slightly shivering from the cold. It was snowing in New York, which should've been a pretty sight, but most of the snow had a nasty grayish color. The large number of cars on the road was to be expected, so it wasn't shocking when they would randomly get splashed by the dirty water.

It wasn't comfortable silence either, not like when he was around Annabeth. The air was awkward and tense, but none of them chose to comment on it. They hadn't exchanged many words, other than a hello, a how-have-you-been and Percy's attempt at a joke about how Nico was always cold so the snow should be to his liking. The last one hadn't received a chuckle, but a glare that made Percy look away.

It was hard to get Nico to loosen up and talk to him, but it wasn't like Percy put much effort either. Percy wasn't scared of Nico, but rather scared that he'd say something that would drive Nico away.

He didn't like that their relationship seemed strained, so he felt determined to fix that.

Besides, the silence was truly getting to him.

They came across a small park, and both had a silent agreement to walk in that direction. Percy, being the polite gentleman that he is, allowed Nico to walk ahead of him on the narrow path. However, as Percy caught eye of the fresh, white snow around them, he quickly smirked. It was actually surprising to find clean snow in a park, he had assumed that the little children would ruin the sight.

He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed a fistful of the soft snow and rapidly shaped it into a ball with his gloved fingers. Deciding it was now or never, he threw the snowball at Nico's back. A smile found its way on his face, but died down as soon as he saw Nico's body tense.

Nico slowly turned around and glared at him. Yep, he was not amused.

Percy bit the inside of his cheek and stared at one particular spot on his boots. However, as soon as he looked back at Nico, his face was slammed by an icy ball.

The audacity.

"Oh, I see how it is," Percy taunted. Nico quickly backed away, hands reaching into the pile of snow.

Percy dug his fingers into the snow, and rapidly aimed at Nico's face with his misshapen ball.

Nico anticipated this and quickly threw a snowball back at Percy, his chest getting hit in the process.

Nico's snowball missed and Percy grinned. However, neither wasted time in getting another snowball ready. Thankfully, the small park was empty, otherwise they both would have been running into strangers. They put distance between themselves, giving themselves time to form multiple snowballs.

Each of them were hit multiple times, but neither Nico or Percy seemed bothered by it. The two were panting furiously from running around, cheeks dusted red despite the cool wind.

One of Percy's snowballs managed to knock Nico off his feet. As soon as he heard an ow, Percy quickly rushed forward.

"I, are you-"

But as Percy ran to where Nico was sitting down, Nico threw a snowball at Percy's face, smiling brightly.

Percy stumbled and fell back on the soft snow. Nico took this opportunity to mercilessly dump a handful of snow on Percy's face.

"Oops," Nico said. Percy could hear the smile in Nico's voice and was glad Nico was having fun.

Percy spat the snow out of his mouth.

"Ewww," he complained. He was smiling widely, despite having snow dumped on him moments ago.

He grabbed at the nearest pile of clean snow and lazily threw it at Nico. Somehow, the snowball managed to get inside Nico's shirt. Nico hissed at the sudden cold impact.

"Oops," Percy teased, a smile lingering on his face.

"You.." Nico said, in a threatening tone.

"Muahahaha," Percy dramatically shouted.

Percy was incredibly grateful for the protection his gloves offered, otherwise he'd have some serious case of frostbite. Nico wasn't wearing any, but with the happiness radiating off the boy, Percy didn't think he minded much.

Nico beamed at him. Now, it wasn't the ghost of a smile, or a forced grin, but rather a smile that expressed pure joy. And to be honest, Percy missed seeing that. The last time he had seen that expression on Nico's face was on Mount Olympus, moments after the second Titan War. He was well aware that Nico was no longer that joyful kid obsessed with Mythomagic, but he knew Nico was still capable of happiness. And after all the things they went through, it was relieving seeing Nico put down his walls and allow himself to have fun.

Here was Nico, seeming to have the time of his life and truly enjoy himself. His heart pounded as he smiled with affection at the younger boy. Proud even, to be getting such a reaction from the son of Hades.

This feeling was followed by a pang of guilt. Deep down, he knew it was his fault that Nico didn't smile often. But what was done was already in the past, now Percy would make sure that Nico felt safe and at peace. He wanted Nico to find happiness. Nico deserved it more than anyone.

They finished their little war shortly after, both boys left tired and in need of a break. They laughed and talked on their way to an ice cream parlor (yes, ice cream in the middle of winter). The atmosphere had significantly relaxed and was at ease.

Percy smiled to himself as he finished eating what was left of his cone. Who knew it took a bit of snow to get the, oh so cold, son of Hades to loosen up?

Either way, Percy was glad. 

A/N Wow, it's late, but my brain refused to sleep until I finished this. Welp, now it's here. Hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading! Feel free to give some constructive criticism, heck, I encourage it! :D