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every collage freshman went through the motions of move in day. spending four hours rushing around a shoebox dorm room to make sure that everything was just right, meeting the new roommates, figuring out the closest place that would inject caffeine straight into your veins. all of that fun stuff.
but no one had move in day like percy and annabeth. well maybe the other demigods in new rome, but they didn’t count in their minds.
they’d spent the last five days in a tiny car road tripping from new york to california for new rome orientation and move in day. they’d stopped by all the classic tourist attractions anyone could think of. the country's biggest ball of yarn. the giant lobster. the hoover dam (again). they’d been saying “cheese” into cameras for the last seventy two hours and listening to annabeth’s audio books.
finally, they made it to their destination: the parking lot of new rome university.
percy, who’d been driving the last five hours, was ready to leave everything in the car and just take a quick power nap before starting on the real work. but this daughter of athena was not having it.
“percy can you come help me with this box please? i think its all of my stationary stuff so its heavy” annabeth half whined from right outside the trunk of the car.
still in the drivers seat, percy responded, “beth, can we please do this later? i’m exhausted.”
she only scoffed and continued to try and lift the box by herself. percy was watching her through the rearview mirror, eyebrows furrowed and jaw set in full concentration and strength mode. “absolotuly not. that is exactly what every other demi god and their mothers are doing right now. if we do that too, it’ll be a busy mess of people and take us twice as long to finish” she explained to him as if he was a seven year old boy. and really, her explanation made sense. percy just couldn’t conjure up the energy that she was asking of him.
but when he heard annabeth groan from the weight of the box in her hands, percy sprung to action anyways. hopping out of the car, he rounded the vehicle and put his arms under the cardboard box in question. “zeus almighty,” he groaned. “you were never going to be able to get this all the way up the stairs on your own.”
over the box, annabeth’s eyes shot daggers at him. without speaking, the two of them shuffled towards the door of their building and dropped the box there before making their way back to the car for the rest. percy watched annabeth blow a stream of air upwards to keep some hair out of her face. he chuckled under his breath and moved towards her when he realized it wasn’t working.
as he tucked the stray strand of hair behind her hair, he said softly, “you’re tired baby. lets just give ourselves a really quick break.”
annabeth simply swatted his hand away and shook her head stubbornly. “no, we’ll do no such thing.” as she continued speaking she grabbed another box from the trunk, “we have to get this done now and only then can we go exploring. plus with your adhd our quick break will turn into three hours comic book shopping, ending in a street fight with another customer.”
jumping to defend himself, percy said “hey! that was one time. and in my defense that guy insulted peter parker and then tried to steal my limited edition spiderman comic in the same breath. i couldn’t let that kind of blasphemy slide.”
percy followed behind his girlfriend as she dropped another box near the door. she turned to him, hands on her hips, eyes narrowed. right then, percy thought she looked a lot like her mother. “while i agree with you, we can’t let that happen today.” making her way back to the car, she added, “plus, do you really want to show your mom an empty room when she gets here tomorrow?”
percy grounded in defeat, finally picking up his own box. bringing his mom into the equation did just the trick. that little manipulator. plus, he’d learned a long time ago that there really wasn’t any arguing with annabeth when she’d made up her mind.
as he dropped his first box, annabeth grinned and said, “good boy. now could you start taking those up the stairs and to my room? i’ll get everything out of the car.”
reluctantly obliging, percy went off to do what she’d asked. but not without mumbling a few choice words under his breath on the way up.
in just a few hours, they both had moved into their respective dorm rooms. they’d both be living in the same building, but separate rooms. luckily, since they had someone on the inside (cough cough reyna) they were only a couple of floors away from each other. annabeth would be rooming with piper while percy would be rooming with frank.
hands on his hip, percy surveyed the room in its completion. proud of his work, he belly flopped onto the bed as a reward. his reward lasted about two seconds before annabeth stormed into the room with a fierce look on her face. percy twisted on the bed, propping himself on his elbows to look at her. “thats not a good look, '' he teased.
annabeth simply rolled her eyes and began making her way around his room. he watched silently as she reorganized his pencils and notebooks by color. then she moved onto his shoes and made sure they were perfectly aligned. she went on like this for a little while, reorganizing his room to her liking. he watched her pause near his corkboard and look at the many many photos of the two of them.
when she was satisfied with her work she gave a small nod and sat down on the end of his bed. he offered her his hand, and when she took it he pulled her towards him so she was laying directly on top of him. she giggled and let out a squeal that sounded like “percy! stop.”
but then she was laying on his chest and they were face to face, and it was like all the rest of the times that they were together. like they existed in a little bubble that no one else could get into. “hi beth” he whispered, tracing his knuckles over her cheek.
“hi perce” she whispered right back.
the two of them stayed like that for a couple of minutes, soaking in each other's smiles. sure, they’d spent the last week on the road together but this was different. this wasn’t shitty motel beds and rushing into the car at six am to beat rush hour. this was peace . long deserved, uninterpreted, peace. and though neither of them vocalized it, they were both thinking about the same things. everything that it had taken for them to get to this place. everything that had been taken. lost. sacrificed. just for the two of them to be able to lay in a twin dorm bed in each others arms like every other pair of eighteen year olds.
plus, they could never really get sick of each other anyways.
percy broke the silence by poking annabeth’s cheek and saying, “c’mon. lets go find a place to get some decent coffee. frank will be here soon to move his stuff in and i want to give him the space.”
annabeth nodded in understanding before crawling off of him. “piper’s coming tomorrow so i’m going to be all alone tonight.” percy didn’t even need to look up to know that she was pouting. those two were normally attached at the hip, but she hadn’t seen piper since she left for california in early june.
“well you can spend the night with me. i’m sure if i plaster myself against the wall we can both fit” he told her.
she shook her head, toeing her shoes back on. “nope, i know how you sleep pretty boy. you either steal all the covers or turn into a total starfish. you couldn’t pay me to sleep in a twin bed with you.”
placing his hand over his heart, he scoffed in mock offense. she just giggled and watched him put on his own shoes. she knew that despite her words, she’d make her way here later tonight when she got lonely in her room. he knew she’d be fine once piper was here though.
repeating his action from earlier that day he offered his hand out to her. and like always, she took it. he led her out of her room where she reminded him to lock the door behind him because obviously he was going to forget. the two of them stepped onto the street hand in hand.
as they walked down the road they saw a man on the corner of the road, doing tricks with some bowling pins. annabeth stood for a few seconds, watching him. then she turned to percy, eyebrows raised, like she always did when she saw something cool and wanted to see her boyfriend's reaction. percy squeezed her hand in recognition. she pulled at his arm and he just rolled his eyes and mumbled a quick “my tricks are way better than his.”
the two of them kept their eyes peeled for a familiar coffee shop or at least something appealing. percy watched annabeth as the two of them walked. the way her eyes lit up at her surroundings, followed the outlines and peculiarities of each building. like the campus was speaking to her. every time she got this look in her eye he was just reminded how he loved her to bits.
just as he was going to vocalize this, annabeth gasped and squeezed his hand. she pointed a finger towards a shop on the opposite side of the street. percy followed her finger and let let out a gasp of his own. on the other side of the street was the two of their favorite coffee shop back in new york, “cerberus coffee cups.”
the two of them spun their heads towards each other, eyes wide, before (carefully) bounding across the road. when they got inside percy went to the counter as annabeth went and found them a booth in the corner. as always. he ordered annabeth’s iced vanilla latte and his cold brew.
when he had them both in his hand, he walked over to where annabeth was sitting. he slid the drink over to her and they both just sipped the coffee goodness for a few silent minutes. then annabeth grinned at him and gestured around them. “isn’t this crazy?” she asked him.
and even though she didn’t explicitly define what ‘this’ was, he knew exactly what she was. he grabbed her hand that was laying on the table. “yeah it definitely is. seems like a good omen to find this place on our first day.”
she nodded in agreement and took another sip of her drink. he saw her hesitate for a moment before continuing, “i just feel so… lucky? but even that feels too small a word.” percy stayed silent. because he knew her, and he knew that she needed the space and opportunity to talk and her own pace. a few moments later she kept going, “being in college, the two of us, doesn’t even feel close to real. i don’t think i’ll adjust to this feeling for a while.” she squeezed his hand three times and bit her lip to hold a grin back, “the fact that you’re here with me is better than anything else actually.”
he squeezed back the same number of times. “i know the feeling. we’re two lucky people aren’t we?” she nodded, clearly thinking the same.
“who would have thought we’d be here? with you double majoring in marine biology and education! i couldn’t even begin to describe how proud of you i am.”
the blush of heat that rose on percy’s cheeks was involuntary. getting a compliment from annabeth was like being handed a giant pile of gold. maybe even better than that. you could always tell that she meant what she was saying from the bottom of her heart.
in a percy like attempt to brush it off he replied by saying “well what about you! miss fancy architect? you’ve already got an internship lined up and everything.”
annabeth just scoffed playfully and stuck her tongue out at him. “lets just leave it at that we’re both happy and proud of the other.” percy grinned at his beautiful girl, something in his chest bursting with pride and happiness that the two of them would get to live the next four years in peace with each other.
“maybe,” he started, “maybe in a year or two, the two of us could get an apartment of our own near campus. small, nothing too flashy. but i mean, knowing the two of us we’ll be at the others dorm room more than our own anyways. would you like that?” he whispered the last part, scared of her reaction.
but annabeth just mirrored his grin and said: “i’d love that perce. we should absolutely do that.”
“yeah?”
“yeah,” she smiled at him.
the two of them sat there grinning like idiots for a moment. if anyone around them was paying even an ounce of attention, they’d think the two of them were a nut case. they spent the next couple of hours talking about anything and everything. mostly their excitement for the start of class and to keep exploring new rome. they even threw out the possibility of a road trip through california in the next couple of months.
the flip phone next to annabeth’s hands buzzed in warning. ripping them out of their trance, annabeth took her hand out of his to answer. they’d decided a couple of years back that it would be safer for just annabeth to have a phone. and only a flip phone, just to be on the safe side. annabeth and percy were together ninety nine percent of the time anyways so if someone needed to contact percy, they’d call annabeth.
she took a quick glance at the text message, replied, and then set the phone back down. when she looked back up at him, percy raised an eyebrow in question. “it was just frank,” was her response. “he wanted to let me know that he was almost done in the room. we can come back whenever we want.”
percy pouted, sad at the thought of leaving. “but we were having such a little perfect date. if you close your eyes you can even imagine we’re in new york.”
annabeth shook her head with a soft smile. “no, no way. there’s no one screaming on the streets. plus the place isn’t shaking because it's next to a subway or train. and you know what?” she shuffled out of the booth and onto her feet, next to the table. “i don’t want to imagine we’re in new york. i want to soak up the feeling of being here. with you.”
in a different fashion than before, annabeth outstretched her hand. this time, percy grabbed onto it, letting annabeth pull him onto his own feet. he pulled his hand out of hers and warped his arms around her waist, flush against his chest. “i’m happy we’re here too. and this location is way better than the one in new york if we’re being honest.”
annabeth giggled and placed her forehead on his chest, “gods you’re right. this one doesn’t have that creepy guy behind the counter that always hit on me.”
percy tensed under her and grit his teeth, “babe you don’t need to remind me. you’re right, fuck new york’s cerberus coffee cups. this one is much much better.”
annabeth just laughed again at his reaction. she liked to get a rise out of him every now and then and she knew exactly how to do it. “lets go home” she whispered in lieu of a response.
and so that’s exactly what they did. walked the short distance back to their new home.
outside of percy’s dorm room, he pulled annabeth closer to him again. after spending the last few days with each other all the time he really didn’t want to let her go to her own room. he’d miss her. “are you going to kiss me goodnight?” he teased her.
“isn’t that supposed to be your job?” she teased back at him.
“considering you’re dropping me off at my door, i get the kiss goodnight.”
“sound logic” she whispered. she pushed herself onto the tips of her toes and kissed him goodnight. “goodnight perce.”
“goodnight beth” he kissed her once more for good measure. “even though you’ll be back” he whispered into her hair as he left a kiss.”
she swatted his arm, pushing herself away towards her room. he watched her walk a couple of doors to her room, not taking his eyes off of her. before entering her room she spun and flashed him his favorite annabeth grin. big, bright, and showing all of her teeth. she blew him one last kiss before slipping into her own room.
she’d be back , percy thought to himself.