Fic: Times Long Past (Rachel/Nico, PG)
Title: Times Long Past
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Rachel/Nico
Summary: If there's one thing that both Rachel and Nico know as New Yorkers, it's that the last place you want to be on New Years Eve is Times Square. Unless, of course, getting vomited on is your thing.
Notes: Written for the prompt 'Spending New Years Eve in Times Square' submitted by sunburst_city for the Rachel/Nico Holiday Challenge at rachel_nico. Sorry it's not longer, bb! Comments are highly appreciated.
If there's one thing Rachel knows as a born and raised, self respecting New Yorker, it's that the last place you want to be on New Years Eve is Times Square. Times Square on New Years Eve is a spot for those of the Bridge and Tunnel, and tourists. All native New Yorkers know that New Years Eve is a time to stay home, and hope you've stocked up on enough champagne and assorted foods to last the night (which will be long). If you really want to get in on the Yuletide spirit, you tune your television in to the correct channel, and watch them wheel out Dick Van Dyke (who's remarkably still managing to stay alive), perhaps pay attention to some of the performances, and then countdown as the ball drops.
But you do not, under any circumstances, actually go to Times Square. Unless, of course, you enjoy drinking Miller Lite out of a can and having loud out-of-towner's vomit on your shoes.
Nico himself hates Times Square at New Years for slightly less drawn out reasons. The boy's simply introverted, and therefore the last place he's ever going to want to spend his night is in the midst of a huge, loud, and overall annoying crowd. He's sure some people have fun doing things like this, but he's also sure that he never will.
So the avoidance of Times Square on the Eve of the New Year became one of those rare subjects on which Rachel and Nico agree completely. It was things like this, and the fact that they both think kidney beans are gross, that really keep their relationship going. That is, without any homicides or calls to the cops (except for that one time when they got really drunk and started playing Twister, and one of Rachel's neighbors called them in for being so noisy; to this day the couple finds it oh so ironic that them actually getting along was what bothered Rachel's rich neighbors, and not their constant fighting).
This New Years Eve begins just as it's supposed to. Nico goes to the grocery store early while Rachel sleeps in late (as per usual), and when she finally exits her cave-curly hair sticking in every direction, clad simply in pajamas-she finds him there, beginning to cut up tomatoes and melt butter, and basically doing all sorts of things she can't even begin to comprehend. He makes a point to tell her that he is very unimpressed by her general appearance, but hands her a glass of champagne to soften the blow, as he knows that Rachel likes to get drinking right when she wakes up on New Years Eve. She looks down at her flute glass, contemplating downing it and/or thanking him for it, but decides that the fact that his first words to her were "Have we completely disregarded the theory that a colony of bunnies live in your hair?" makes him a dick, and he deserves to be punished. So she drenches him in the champagne, calmly refilling her glass as he stands there in mild shock, probably considering whether or not retaliation is worth it.
While whatever it is that Nico's constructed is in the oven, they turn on Rachel's flat screen and tune into Times Square, and Rachel remarks that it's almost like they're actually in Times Square, and Nico says that she shouldn't ruin a perfectly good evening with comments like that.
At around eight PM they have their dinner. Rachel honestly has no idea what she's eating (this may be because she head dived right into the plate the moment Nico set it in front of her, not bothering to come up for air), all she knows is that it's delicious. She compliments him by jumping on his back when he's taking the plates back to the kitchen, causing him to stumble and drop them all, ceramic shards flying everywhere. He tries to turn around to say something along the lines of "The fuck, Red?", but she's clinging to his back and refusing to let go, until he threatens to lie down on the couch.
At ten they're two bottles of champagne down, and are pretty tipsy (both of them are exceptional at holding their alcohol, so it's going to take a lot more than that to really affect them). They end up getting the monopoly board out of shear boredom, and Rachel (who totally inherited her father's savvy business sense, no matter how many times she denies it) wins in under an hour, as always (which is probably a record). Alcohol consumption during this time increased considerably.
Considering the fact that at this point they are no longer leaning towards tipsy but drunk now, they really cannot be blamed for what they do next. In their haze, they decide it's a good idea to go out to Rachel's balcony and yell obscenities down at the pedestrians of the city. After about a good five minutes of insulting people, they start getting a reaction from the people down in the streets, who are in turn telling them to fuck off. This goes on for a good while, but at the end of it Rachel realizes they're all laughing. Her, Nico, and the people in the people in the street. She really loves New York City.
It's almost midnight now, and Rachel and Nico decide to stay on her balcony with their glasses of champagne, because they know the outbreak in the streets when the new year is announced will be far from disappointing, what with the yelling of endearments and couples kissing and the singing of Auld Lang Syne that comes from every direction. Times Square or not, it's a truly magical moment.
Finally, there's the collective noise of people counting down across the city, and then suddenly, it's the new year. The roar that erupts can only be described as jaw dropping to someone who hasn't experienced it before, and there are the couples stopping to kiss in the streets, and the friends hugging and laughing a wishing eachother a Happy New Year, and the singing of Auld Lang Syne coming from everywhere. And it's so insistent in its scope that Rachel and Nico start singing too, saluting the city with their champagne glasses and singing along like they can actually sing. Nico kisses her while she's still singing with the city, surprising her, but she kisses him back and manages to hold onto her glass, although she's pretty sure she spills some of it on Nico in the process.
When Nico pulls away they continue singing, because the city is certainly not done yet. And then, in that moment, watching Nico be so unlike himself-in equal parts due to the fact that he's had one too many and because the city has demanded it-Rachel has one thought.
This is what a life is made of.