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Noah studied the map as Peyton looked for a route, frowning a little in concentration as he worked out what the tangle of interconnected lines meant. Obviously it wasn't to scale, so the various turns must be representations of locations rather than a genuine map of locations. Dots meant stops, that one was obvious, black dots would be line-specific stops and white ones would be stops with more than one line, so if you needed to get on a different line, you'd want to find the closest white dot to change at. He looked up at the sign on the wall to check the name and color of the stop they were at. Red line, 42nd St, okay, let's see, trace to the spot Peyton was pointing to. "Hey, that's not far at all," he said.

If the subway cars had been dark, his nerves might have returned, but they were brightly lit, and he was able to watch the tunnels zipping past with open fascination. The infrastructure under the city was complex and worked like clockwork. He was impressed. It must take huge amounts of planning and precision and maintenance to keep this working.

When they reached the park, Noah gawked happily around like a tourist, which, to be fair, he actually was. Sunlight and rolling grass, trees, a fountain, people all around; he could see the skyline all around them, but it was like an oasis of nature in the city. He smiled down at Peyton, a pleased and uncomplicated expression. "Me too," he agreed. "This was a great idea. Thank you."

Noah was easily drawn along, following with a slightly silly grin. "I like otters," he answered. "They're so cool. They're kind of stumpy-looking on land, but when they're in the water, it's just so, so effortless, you know?" He watched her, carefully not staring, but she was pretty, and she was right there and being pretty at him, which he was starting to sense was somehow different from just being pretty. "Did you have goldfish? Like, as pets?"

He looked past her for a moment. "Look out," he warned," there's some stairs, I don't want you to trip."

"Both," Noah nodded. He blinked at her, surprised. "No pets ever?" It was hard for him to imagine. He'd spent his whole life in one place, always surrounded by animals. The thought of never having any pets around was strange to him.

He bumped his arm against her shoulder as she moved back to his side, giving her a shy little smile. "Let's go see."

The cashier at the admissions booth accepted his ID and card without so much as a blink, and the transaction went through with no hitches. He hadn't really thought there would be a problem, but he'd sort of been worried, a little bit, about what they'd do if there was. But the fake was apparently well enough made not to warrant even a second glance, and the card must be linked to some real bank somewhere. That made him wonder. It hadn't actually occurred to him before, but Deus must have connections to all kinds of industries, suppliers, maybe even services. Maybe he'd find out more later. Right now, though, he was on vacation in New York City, at the zoo, with Peyton, and the thought made him grin like an idiot all over again.

He studied the map the cashier had handed him along with his receipt, holding it so that Peyton could see easily too. "What do you want to go see first?"

"That sounds good. Off to the tropics, then!" Noah grinned and tucked the map into his pocket. "Snakes and toucans and lemurs. All the exotic stuff. And I bet it's warm in there too."

The air inside the building was warm and humid, filled with the sounds of birds as well as the murmur of voices. Noah angled towards the snake tanks, interest bright in his eyes, but he paused to look to Peyton. Some girls didn't like snakes. He didn't really think she was going to be like that, but if she didn't want to go look at the snakes, he wouldn't argue.

"They're so cool," Noah opined. "I like constrictors. I think they're cute. You see the blunt, sorta long nose? You can always tell if a snake's venomous or not by the shape of the head. Venomous snakes have sorta triangular heads. I think it's because of the venom glands. I used to want a corn snake, but Mom said no, she wasn't going to have any snakes in her house, even if they weren't dangerous."

He wasn't too enthusiastic about the spiders himself. There was something about bugs that bothered him in a way he couldn't explain, and it showed in the way he stood back a little from the tanks, not leaning in to study them the way he had with the reptiles, and he didn't have much to say about them. He followed Peyton's pace through that section, trying not to hurry. He didn't want to look like a wimp.

Her hand slipped into his again as they headed for the small animals, and he didn't jump, though his heart thumped as he became suddenly hyperaware of her presence again. He folded his fingers around hers and squeezed her hand lightly. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

The gentle touch on his arm made Noah's attention shift off the animals entirely. He was pretty sure his smile looked totally stupid, but he didn't care, because this was great. She was smiling too, and that was even better.

It was kind of cool to be somewhere where nobody knew them, somewhere where they could just relax and not have to worry about anyone getting nosy and asking questions, and just have some fun together. When she spoke, he nodded, because the lemurs were cute, then, on impulse, he said, "So are you."

He could feel himself turning red, but that was actually kind of okay. He thought maybe Peyton wouldn't even laugh at him.

The blush got worse, but not only had she not laughed at him, she'd complimented him back. "Thanks," he said softly, and was grateful that he hadn't stammered over the word.

"Do you want to go see the monkeys?" he asked after a moment. A though occurred to him, and he giggled a little and added, "Just like back home."

Noah wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to the animals at the moment, not when Peyton's hand was brushing gently up and down his arm. She seemed to think his dumb joke was a little funny, too, and that was incredibly flattering.

He was content to stay and "watch" the lemurs as long as she felt like it. It was nice to just be with her, and not be worried about anything, just be together and happy.