Oh hey I also had to hunt down your human Tarn to show my roommate recently. But that was because they were confused to how any form of Tarn could have people thirsting over him. Neither of us understand it still, but it captures his energy magnificently.
Thanks dude! Still a little concerned by the number of people showing Tarn to their roommates.
A/N: College series #1 oneshot, as promised. I know a big apartment for a student is practically non-existent, but I needed it for his roommates. And I figured Percy 24 hours in campus would be just asking for trouble. So give this author a little creative license.
College #1
Sally smiled tearfully at Percy. He laughed at all the drama she was making, fixing the strap of his backpack on his shoulder, getting the key from his pocket and turning it on the lock. He pushed the door open and turned to Paul, accepting the cardboard box he handed out, walking inside the apartment.
It wasn't very big or spacious, it was roughly the size of their own apartment, but for a college student, it was a mansion. The living room was connected to the kitchen, making the two look bigger than they were, a hallway led to four doors, plus a bathroom.
"Cool, mom."
"You'll have to get roommates, of course, but I think it won't be too hard. It's not too far from campus, and it's a good building.”
"Yeah, okay." he dropped the box on the floor in front of one of the doors.
“I know it would have been fun living on campus, honey, but you know. It probably would have been a bad idea." He knew what she was talking about. The more time he spent at campus, more time he would have to accidentally blow it up. Sally hugged him, patting his hair.
"Oh, my baby. It looks like it was yesterday you were strangling snakes on your cot, now you're in college!"
"Can you believe they accepted me?" he said laughing happily. She glared half-heartedly at him.
"Of course they accepted you, you worked really hard for this." she stated, filled with motherly pride.
"I still think I'm their social project, but I'm not complaining."
"Percy!" she chided.
"I'm joking, mom." He laughed. She let go of him.
"Well, go ahead and pick your bedroom, I'll help Paul with the other boxes outside." she said with a pat to his cheek.
"Okay."
He looked each one over. They were all essentially the same, two of them were smaller, probably hadn't originally been bedrooms. He picked one of the bigger ones, with a view to the street. The other's window showed an alley between buildings and it was a little depressing. His furniture hadn't arrived yet, but the store had guaranteed it would in time for classes. The only things he really had had already been there, like the kitchen counters and the wooden cabinets on top of them, also Paul had - surprisingly - installed the shower on the bathroom, so there was that. He didn't have a couch yet, or a table, but his mom had given him two chairs, and they were sitting in the middle of the "kitchen", marking its territory. That was pretty much everything he had. He kicked the box inside his new bedroom and crouched down to open it. It had some clothes and a couple of things he couldn't live without, quite literally, because they were mostly emergency weapons and spare armor. He sighed, smiling slightly. A couple of years ago he would have been happy to graduate high school, now he was going to college in three weeks. Who would have thought ADHD trouble kid Percy Jackson would make it this far?
"Percy! Give me a hand here!" Paul called from the living room.
"Going!" he stood up and walked out to where his voice was coming from. Paul's figure was entirely blocked by a mattress he was holding up, apparently with effort, since it kept swaying back and forth. Percy rushed to help him. "Got it."
"Thanks."
They flipped the mattress on its side, grabbing each a side of it and carrying it to the room. It was heavier than he'd thought, especially because it was a big mattress, bigger than the single one in his old bedroom. They dropped it on the floor and kicked it to the wall. Even with nothing else in the room, it still took up most of it, they'd barely be able to fit a dresser inside it. Percy wasn't too bothered by it, he could live with clothes in boxes his whole life. He’d lived weeks with all his belongings on a backpack before. Paul wiped his brow.
"Well, at least you have a place to sleep now." he said, seemingly proud at their accomplishment. "Next step, a fridge." he said with a chirp tone. "But that will have to wait until next weekend, because I'm not twenty anymore."
"It's okay, who needs to eat anyway?" Percy joked.
"Boys! Come over here for a second!" Sally called them from the living room. They obeyed. She was closing her purse.
"You called, mom?"
"Yes, honey, I just realized I forgot the cleaning supplies, I'll go out and buy them."
"Cleaning supplies?" Percy asked warily.
"Yes, we have to clean this place before the furniture arrives."
"Clean?" he groaned, dismayed.
"Of course. And I hope this won't be the first and last time this apartment is cleaned." she said pointedly.
"Mom!" he whined. She smiled. It was like she was amused at his horror.
"I'll go with you, Sally." Paul offered.
"Thank you, honey. Are you coming, Percy?" she asked her son.
"Nah." he shrugged. "I'll stay here, getting acquainted with my place." Sally chuckled.
"Have fun." Paul mocked.
"Behave you two!" he called out jokingly.
They closed the door on their way out, leaving him alone in, who would have thought, his apartment. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the thought. His apartment. He was going to live there, alone. No parents, no chaperone, no one to tell him when to go to bed, or what to eat, or what to watch on TV, or to clean his room, or... He could do anything he wanted. He could eat cereal for lunch and ice cream for dinner, sleep at four in the morning, play video games the whole day, leave his clothes all over the floor and let the dishes pile up. He could walk around the house naked.
Okay, he probably wouldn't walk around naked, but the thing was he could if he wanted to. He grinned to himself. He had an apartment. How cool was that? He walked back to his bedroom, looking around. The walls were a boring white. He wished he could paint them, preferably blue, but that wasn't allowed in the rent contract. He sighed, leaning against the window sill to look down at the street below. This was the place he'd live in for the next four years. Not for the first time doubt crossed his mind. He had had enough trouble just trying to get by in high school, would college be harder? Or would it be easier considering he'd be doing marine biology? That would be kind of... Cheating, wouldn't it? Considering his parentage. Besides... Cleaning on his own. He shuddered. No mother to cook for him. His brows furrowed. He'd have to do his own laundry. Horror filled him. How would he survive? He dropped to the mattress, his temporary bed, staring at the ceiling, having visions of the dark days that lay ahead of him. A chuckle called his attention. He looked at the direction it had come from, expecting to find his parents back saying they had forgotten something, but the person leaning against the door frame was definitely not one of his parents. His heart did its usual somersault when Annabeth smiled at him.
"Hi, am I too late?" she asked, walking inside. She must have come straight from camp, because she was wearing an orange T-shirt and shorts. Her long blonde hair was loose for once, falling in curls over her shoulders. He had the sudden urge to run his fingers through it.
"No. We just came in, actually. Mom went out to buy cleaning stuff." he explained.
"And you got lazy." she teased.
"No, I was waiting for you." he said grinning. She shook her head.
"Sure you were." She walked forward, sitting down on the mattress next to him. She leaned in and he leaned up, propping himself up on his elbows, kissing her lightly. He fell back, resting his hands on his stomach. She laid hers on top of his and intertwined their fingers.
“How did you get in?”
“Your mom left the door open.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a nice apartment.”
“Yeah…” he said airily, playing with her fingers. “It’s close to campus, it’s pretty big. What about you?”
“Oh, I’ll live in the campus.”
“Uhm.”
They fell silent. None of them liked to talk about it much. They were very happy to have been accepted in college – not so much about them being different ones. Annabeth would be going to Cornell. Luckily, it wasn’t very far, a four-hour drive, give or take, they could visit each other in the weekends, but still… The past year they had been so close, they saw each other every day, this would be the farthest they would be since his kidnapping at the Giant War. They weren’t eager to be away from each other like that, especially for four years.
“So, how do you like the bedroom?” he asked, trying to change the subject. She looked around for a second.
“It’s very bare. Are you going for the minimalist approach?”
“More like ‘the shop is late delivering the furniture’ approach.” She laughed, lying down beside him. He wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. “Can you believe we’re going to college?”
“Didn’t feel like we’d survive this long.” She admitted. Percy chuckled.
“Well, you’re a ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”
“You started.” She accused.
“I was thinking more along the lines ‘I didn’t think I would graduate high school because I’m dyslexic and ADHD’, but sure, we can go down the depressing road too.” She slapped his chest. He smiled. “It’s going to be cool being in college. Living by myself. Imagine all the cool stuff we can do.” He was ready to recite the list he had previously put together, but Annabeth spoke first.
“We won’t have to worry about your parents walking in on us.” She said quietly.
It took him a second to process what she had said. When he did, he craned his neck to look at her. She looked up at him too, a crooked smile on her lips, her grey eyes shining mischievously. He pulled her to him and flipped them over, rolling on top of her laughing.
“Well, this is going to be easier than your bunk bed at cabin three.” Annabeth teased.
“You wonderful, brilliant, awesome…” Percy started. She interrupted him by leaning up and pressing her lips to his.
reason # 946 it's good you don't know me irl: packing up my room is basically just really loud singing to country songs and making a huge mess and whining a lot
(also unless "HAVE SEX BECAUSE WE'RE DRIFTERS" is actually in this brad paisley song, i think i'm getting the lyrics allll wrong)
