“Come on, Nico, you promised!” Percy whined. Nico grimaced.
“I said I would come with you to try this, not that I would try it myself,” Nico said stubbornly as he stared at the thin crust and excessive cheese that the state of New York dared to call Pizza.
“But it’s a special recipe,” Percy insisted, taking a slice and biting into it. “It’s so good too!”
“Look, I told you last time, New York Pizza may come from Italian immigrants, but it is not pizza,” he said. “It’s too thin, too salty, the crust is incorrectly charred—”
“Just one bite,” Percy tried. “Then, you can spend the night at my apartment and we’ll eat, do and make whatever you want.”
Nico hesitated. That was a pretty good offer. It had been so long since he and Percy had spent the night together…
“We’re making real Italian food at your home,” he warned. Percy nodded eagerly.
“You know I love your ravioli,” he said. Nico sighed and held the Pizza slice like it was trying to bite him back.
He took a deep breath and bit.
His eyes widened.
Below the thick layer of cheese were thinly sliced tomatoes with herbs, and the cheese itself… it wasn’t just heaps upon heaps of salty parmesan, but actual mozzarella.
It tasted like a bizarro version of a Margherita.
It tasted good.
“So… how was it?” Percy asked, already grinning like a loon.
“It was… not revolting,” Nico said. He dropped the slice, even though he wanted to take another bite. “Probably a six out of ten.”
Percy smirked wider.
“You liked it~” Percy sang. Nico sputtered. “Come on, admit it, give a point to good old New York!”
“It wasn’t bad, but that’s it,” Nico lied. He had a reputation, his grandparents (Not Chronos and Rhea, the other ones) would roll in their graves if he ever admitted something so awful. “Probably the lesser of America’s crimes on Italian cuisine.”
Percy narrowed his eyes, still smiling. He took the slice and started devouring it.
“Well, then you don't mind if I finish it up before we go to my apartment, right?”
“O-of course I don’t mind!” Nico said, a bit too quickly for his own taste. Percy nodded.
“You know, since you didn’t like it that much, I probably shouldn’t kiss you until I go home and wash my teeth,” Percy mentioned innocently, taking another slice. “Wouldn’t want to gross you out.”
“It wasn’t gross… just not my thing,” Nico mumbled. “A kiss is fine.”
“But the herbs, Nico!” Percy protested. “They aren’t fresh! You hate that!”
“Every ingredient can be used correctly…”
“It’s a bummer, though,” Percy said, using his tongue to clean up his lips. “If you had liked this, I would have been so happy…”
“It is what it is, Percy,” Nico said, trying to not look at Percy as he ‘accidentally’ dropped some sauce on his arm and licked it off sensuously. “You can take the boy out of Italy, but you can never take Italy out of the boy…”
“Yeah, but you know, Nico,” he said, his voice acquiring a husky tone. “When I’m happy, I tend to do things for the people I love… things that makes them happy.”
Nico gulped. Was Percy implying…?
“But I appreciate your honesty,” he said, shrugging, and suddenly the atmosphere was back to normal as Percy took another bite. “Don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Nico thought carefully. Mamma, Nono, and Nona would probably be okay if Nico enjoyed one bastardization of Italian food, right? Just the one.
Especially if it came with boyfriend privileges.
“I… I may actually like it a bit more than I thought,” he said, looking around, expecting to see his grandfather’s ghost wailing.
“Nico, it’s okay,” Percy said, teasing grin in place. “You don’t have to force yourself to—”
Nico kissed him and took the last slice, giving it a big bite and moaning to it, just for show.
“It’s the best pizza I’ve ever tasted in America,” he said seriously. “I admit it, I’m handing in my Italian card for a slice of pizza and a boy I like.”
Percy laughed.
“I’ll give it back to you once you relearn more Italian dishes,” He promised. “For now, I’m just happy you were honest with me.”
Nico gave him a feral grin.
“I know you were teasing, but I’ll hold you to everything you said,” he said back.
Percy’s smile became just a little bit nervous.