CHAPTER ONE: Bedfellow

Annabeth Chase walked through New Rome, a large blue basket of laundry in her arms and her phone pressed between her ear and her shoulder. "Look, Pipes, maybe instead of complaining to me, you should call up Jason and talk about it. I know you guys said no long distance but-"

"Exactly," Piper said from the other end of the line. "I think it would be easier for both of us if we didn't keep in touch. I mean, I love him, I always will. But it will be too hard to let go and move on if we talk to each other all the time. And I want him to be able to move on."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Okay. I'll make sure he's fine. You take care of yourself, all right? I love you."

"And with that, I'm guessing you have to go," Piper teased. "I love you too. Have fun at college and say 'hey' to Percy for me."

Annabeth turned to the boy walking next to her. "Piper says 'hey'," she passed on.

Percy Jackson nodded as he tried to navigate the streets, barely being able to look passed the giant box he was carrying. "'sup," he said.

"Percy says ''sup'," Annabeth said into the phone. "Okay, now I actually have to go. Bye!"

"Bye," Piper returned as Annabeth hung up.

Annabeth turned to Percy and smiled. The couple had been planning college since she found Percy in Camp Jupiter. Finally they were there, walking onto campus with boxes and suitcases in hand. They kept looking at each other and Annabeth wanted to say something really sentimental and valuable. But when she thought about everything the couple had been through, and then thought about the fact that it was over, it was all over and they were settling down into a normal life at college – a college for Demigods, but whatever – all she could do was grin from ear to ear and burst out laughing.

She remembered when Percy went missing, when she spent months looking for him, thought he had lost his memories of his, gone out of her own mind with worry. She remembered parting from him again to fight Arachne, a quest that only she could have undertook. She remembered almost dying at the spider's hand, before tricking her into falling into Tartarus. She remembered Percy refusing to let her go as Arachne dragged her down with her. She remembered travelling through Tartarus with Percy. The couple had made it out of Hell for God's sake!

"We made it," she muttered, sighing.

Percy was about to reply when Dr Chase interrupted him. "Annabeth, where's the dorm room?" Annabeth turned back to him, clearly struggling with one of her boxes. Yeah, she better get him to the dorm quick.

Frank, as newly elected Praetor of New Rome, had opened the gates to Mortals, who could see through the mist for one day to see their kids off to college. "Mom, you good?" Percy called behind him. He and his step-dad, Paul Blofis, had taken most of the heavy boxes, being gentleman and everything, but Sally still had a pretty heavy box in her hands.

There was a pause. "Emotionally or physically?" she called back.

"Physically, first," Percy answered.

"I'm good," she answered enthusiastically. "Emotionally... well I'm struggling a little."

He smirked as he and Annabeth lead their parents to the actual college part of the city. When she saw it, Annabeth had expected it to be older. But this Rome was built fairly recently, so it was only a few decades old. It was a light brown building shaped kind of like a square with a small courtyard in the middle. It was six stories high and all the dorm rooms were in the top three floors. They walked through the front door of the buildings and found the elevators. Only one was free and both Annabeth and Percy couldn't fit into it with all of their stuff.

"Do you want to go in first and we'll get the next one?" Annabeth offered.

Percy looked torn between wanting to be a gentleman to Annabeth and wanting to be a gentleman to his mother. "We'll be quick," he said, kissing her on the cheek before grabbing the elevator. His mother and step-father got in with him and the doors closed as Percy winked at his girlfriend.

She smirked and turned back to her own family, who put their boxes down as they waited for the elevator. Her father was there, taking a lot of the luggage to protect his wife from the weight. Her step-mother seemed to be especially nice to her that day. Over the past few months, after Annabeth went to war again, they had been trying to build a kinder, more calm relationship. Annabeth had began to actually like her. Not that she would ever see her as a mother, but she didn't hate her anymore.

Her two younger brothers, Matthew and Bobby, were just about old enough to carry some of her stuff, but spent their strength on her pillows. She had run away from home when they were very young, but they had memories of her, and over time, she had built an entirely new relationship with them. "So..." she mused, beginning to feel tension in the air. "How are you possibly going to survive while I'm gone?" she asked, awkwardly laughing.

Her father sniggered, remembering all the years he went without her. "No idea," he said. He smiled at her. "Are you going to be okay?"

She shrugged. "I survived Hell, I'm sure college will be fine," she said. "I'll e-mail you everyday. I mean, phones are kind of strictly forbidden within New Rome."

"You called your friend outside," Dr Chase said, confused.

Annabeth nodded. "Terminus is on a break. He's a statue that takes phones and weapons off of people when they enter the city. But Frank, the praetor, thought he would scare the mortals. He'll probably come and take my phone later. But I'll leave the city occasionally the make calls."

"Okay," her father said after a pause. "Oh, the elevator's here." The family crammed themselves into a fairly small elevator as it started going up. They arrived on the fifth floor and stepped out. Annabeth pulled out a piece of paper with her dorm room number on it and started walking through the corridor, looking for it.

It kind of felt like she was in a hotel. Warm beige walls, thin blue carpet, white ceiling with dim lighting and dark blue doors on either side with gold numbers. It had a comfortable feeling to it, and felt quite calm. The corridor wasn't wide, about a meter or so, so the family walked in single file. Finally Annabeth found her dorm, number 2864. The whole college was about half the size of your usual college, with about 4500 dorm rooms, 1500 on each floor. It was a big place, but still slightly compact.

Annabeth's dorm consisted of a tiny kitchen, a small bathroom and one bedroom. Through the front door, the kitchen was to the right and the bathroom was to the left. The door to the bedroom was just across from her. The walls were white and there was a light hardwood floor underneath her feet. The whole place looked tiny and empty. She walked to the bedroom door and opened it up, her family following her as she looked inside.

It was 3 metres squared with a thin, light grey carpet and white walls. The door was in the middle of one wall, a small mirror with white blinds opposite her. Against the wall to her immediate right were bunk-beds, and somebody had put a suitcase on the top bunk. There was one desk on either side of the door. Under the window opposite her was a small black couch and against the left wall were some metal shelves, a small chest of draws and some photo frames pinned to the wall. There was a small, thin door on that wall as well and Annabeth wondered where it lead to. Above the window was an air-conditioner.

"This is nice," her step-mother said, looking around and nodding. Annabeth nodded in agreement as her family put her few boxes and suitcases down. "Somebody's taken the top bunk."

Annabeth shrugged. "I would have chosen the bottom anyway. I just didn't imagine having a room mate."

"Did you not want one?" Dr Chase asked, ready to go and complain.

"No, it's fine," Annabeth said. "I just didn't really think about it."

There was a pause as Annabeth sighed. She realised they were all going to want some tearful farewell, like all parents got when their children went off to college. "Do you want some help unpacking?" her step-mother asked her, going to open one of the boxes. "Once we liven the place up, it'll feel just like home."

Annabeth wanted to ask what that meant, but she decided she was reading to much into it. And she didn't want to cause a fight. "That's okay," Annabeth said. "Really I should wait until I meet my room mate. Need to cooperate and everything."

There was another pause for a minute. "I guess this is it then?" Dr Chase asked.

Both of Annabeth's brothers ran up and hugged her waist. She put her arms around their shoulders for a minute before bending down to look them in the eye. "I don't want you to go," Matthew said. Some people had trouble telling the two boys apart, but never Annabeth.

"I'm not going to go forever," she promised, smiling. "I'll come home every Christmas."

"I'll miss you," Bobby said, tearfully.

Annabeth kissed them both on the cheek. "I'll miss you too. Both of you."

She straightened up and faced Mrs Chase. Her step-mother smiled weakly at her. "I am so proud of you," she said. "Don't you ever think otherwise. Annabeth I know in the past that... Look I'm just trying to say: I'm sorry if I made you feel like... Like you didn't have a home with us, that I hated you. I don't. I married your father when you were five and I watched you grow into this strong, smart, independent woman. You are my child, and I love you!"

Annabeth smiled, beginning to tear up herself. She hugged her father's wife and it was genuine. "Thank you," she whispered.

Mrs Chase took the boys out of the room and Annabeth faced her Dad. They paused before falling into each other's arms. "I love you, Annabeth," he said. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks Dad," she said, pulling apart and wiping a tear from her cheek. "I'm proud of me as well."

"You sure you got everything?" he said. "You going to be okay?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine. I'll e-mail you as soon as I get my laptop running. I love you," she said, beaming from ear to ear.

"I love you, too," he said. He kissed her forehead before forcing himself out of the door, closing it behind him. Annabeth sighed and turned back to her dorm room. Since she was pretty sure she'd be having the bottom bunk, she began to bring her sheets out of one of the boxes, preparing to make the bed first.

The tiny door on one of the walls crept open behind Annabeth and she turned to see Reyna poking her head out. "Hey, Annabeth!" Reyna said, smiling a little. As though Annabeth being there had been a pleasant surprise.

"Reyna!" Annabeth exclaimed, opening her arms to hug her. Reyna closed the door behind her and excepted the hug, wrapping her own arms around Annabeth. When they pulled apart Annabeth asked: "What are you doing here?"

Reyna shrugged. "College!" Annabeth noticed that she wasn't wearing her armour or purple toga, but instead she wore skinny jeans and a light blue tank top. "I guess I'm your room mate?"

Annabeth paused as Reyna walked past her and opened her suitcase, which was the one on the top bunk. "Wait," Annabeth said. "Don't you have Rome to run? I mean, I'm really happy I have you and not some weird Junkie or something, but..."

"Nobody's praetor forever, Annabeth," Reyna said, rolling her eyes. "I had to continue with my life at some point, and where better to start than college? Besides, it's been on our – my plan for a very long time."

"So you just quit being a praetor?" Annabeth said.

"I wish it had been that easy," Reyna said. "There was a lot of paper work and meetings. I left Hazel Levesque with my job, so she can rule with Frank. Rome's greatest power couple. Anyway, I've wanted to go to college since I was five when I found out what it was. Now I'm eighteen, so it's now or never, right? Do you want the top bunk?"

Annabeth smirked. "Same with me. And no, I prefer the bottom one. God, I'm actually really glad I got you. What is that? Like some crazy coincidence?"

"Whatever it is, I want to thank it," Reyna said, smiling at Annabeth. "Your family seems nice. I didn't want to intrude so I waited until they left."

"That's stupid, my Dad might have liked to have met you," Annabeth said. "Make sure my room mate wasn't a mental case. What's through that door anyway?"

"Closet," Reyna said. "Kind of small, but some more room than these draws."

Annabeth nodded before tackling the big question. "You said 'our'," she reminded Reyna. "When you said that college was always a part of your plan, you said 'our'. What was that about."

Reyna paused, rolling her eyes. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"No," Annabeth said, shaking her head. "Someone's got beans. Spill them." She poked Reyna in the ribs, narrowing her eyes.

"Jason," Reyna answered. "Before he left and met Piper, we had a college plan. Together, you know? But now he's in New York, so I'm doing it by myself."

Annabeth paused, sucking her teeth. "He and Piper broke up," she said. "He chose New Rome over Camp Half-Blood because he wanted to go home and Piper didn't want to pack up her life and move across the country to be with him. They decided long distance was never going to work. He's in college, sharing a dorm room with Percy."

Reyna paused before turning to Annabeth and shrugging. "Just because we're both here doesn't mean we're here together. Just because he broke up with his girlfriend doesn't mean we're friends again."

"I'm just passing along information," Annabeth shrugged. She walked over to one of her boxes that had a carrier bag sat on top. They had popped to a small shop just outside of Camp Jupiter on the way there, so the champagne bottle was still chilled. "Now," Annabeth said, "as your friend who's also been looking forward to college since I was five... I hereby promise to be the best room mate you could ask for."

Reyna sniggered and held out some glasses as Annabeth popped open the champagne. The blonde poured a couple glasses and the girls clinked them together. "Back at you," Reyna winked, drinking.

Reyna and Annabeth spent the rest of the day unpacking. The kitchen was basically a counter in the hallway opposite the bathroom. There wasn't a lot of room but they managed to fit in a coffee maker, tupperware, measuring cups, cutlery, glasses and mugs, plates and bowls. Annabeth made a list of food they needed as Reyna figured out how the microwave worked.

"I guess we'll just have time for tinned things," Annabeth muttered. "How many classes are you taking?"

"No idea, I haven't registered yet," Reyna said, the plug sparking as she plugged in the microwave. She laughed, completely fine. "Home sweet home."

"How have you not registered for classes yet?" Annabeth exclaimed. "That was the first thing you had to do!"

"Well what are you doing?" Reyna asked.

"Architecture 101 and Advanced Mathematics," Annabeth said. "I've been thinking about signing up for Art and Design as well since a lot of drawing comes with architecture."

"Didn't you already rebuild Mount Olympus," Reyna said, moving away from the microwave and looking at Annabeth's list. "Don't you kind of know everything there is about architecture from experience?"

"There's always more to learn," Annabeth shrugged. "Besides, I need a degree to get a job in the real world. I can't just walk into an interview and say 'I redesigned Olympus. How much am I getting paid?'"

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Fine. How about I do Art and Design with you? Then I can pick another by myself."

"That sounds great," Annabeth said. She looked around her bag for a list of courses and read a few out to Reyna. "How about Sociology?"

"Sounds good," Reyna said. "What do they have in terms of Journalism?"

"Why Journalism?" Annabeth asked.

Reyna shrugged. "Why not Journalism? Get into the media, make a few changes. No idea what I want to do with my life, so might as well make a name for myself in the real world."

Annabeth checked her list. "Multi-Media Journalism. You want to sign up?"

Reyna shrugged. "Why not? We'll go down and register in a bit."

They moved onto the bathroom and Annabeth started hanging up a shower curtain as Reyna arranged a collection of towels. "How come this place has got three rooms and we still have to share a bedroom?" Annabeth asked. "I mean, no offence, I'm sure we'll have fun and everything, but why?"

"Because we don't have that much space," Reyna said. "What would you give up in exchange for your own room? The bathroom or the kitchen?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Forget I said anything. Besides, sharing a room will be fun."

Reyna sighed. "How's Percy by the way?"

"He's good," Annabeth said. "I'm going to go and see him in his new dorm room in a bit. He moved in with Jason, so you should come along."

Reyna smirked. "Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I am no where near ready to even look at him."

It wasn't long before Percy found his dorm room. It was the same model as everybody's in the college so it was pretty small. He left his suitcase and cardboard box in the kitchen and peaked into the bedroom, laughing at what he saw.

"Is he okay?" Sally asked from over Percy's shoulder. Jason Grace was lying face down in bed like a plank, headphones in, completely oblivious to the world, a couple of his own boxes next to the bed. Percy was glad he had taken the bottom bunk so he didn't have to fight him for the top. Not that he would lose or anything.

"He's fine," Percy laughed, rolling his eyes. "His girlfriend dumped him and he's too cool to show it, but secretly he's listening to Ron Rope's drop in the ocean."

"This is Down by Jason Walker," Jason said, pointing to his headphones. "Dumb ass."

Percy sniggered and rolled his eyes. "You two know each other?" his mother asked, pointing to each of them. Jason didn't look up from his pillow but Percy nodded.

"You remember Thalia? This is her little brother, Jason," he explained.

"Oh Jason," Sally said. "The one you talk about all the time."

Now Jason groggily looked up and faced Percy, the slight hint of a smile beginning to creep up onto his face. "You got something to tell me, Perc?" he asked, flirtatiously.

Percy just winked. "You know it, Babe," he replied. He turned back to his mother. "Anyway, now that you've completely embarrassed me..."

His mother sighed before hugging him. He hugged back and they stood there for a minute. After a while he tried to pull away but her grasp on him tightened. "No, I'm not ready yet," she protested. He was taller than her now and going off to college so he could only imagine how she felt.

"Mom," he laughed a little, hearing the choke in her voice and tearing up himself. "I love you."

She didn't reply, the words sounding so final. "We should let go before I change my mind and drag you home with me," she said. She finally let Percy go and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "E-mail me every day!"

"I'll be fine," he said. "I have Annabeth."

Sally nodded. "You tell her that I'm proud of her as well," she ordered. "I don't know where her dorm is so I can't say goodbye to her." Percy rolled his eyes, remembering his mother's friendship with his girlfriend.

"Come here," Percy said, turning to Paul and pulling him in for a hug as well. "You take care of my Mom, okay? You be nice to her or I'll be coming for you."

Paul laughed a little, as if the thought of him mistreating Percy's Mom was ridiculous. Percy remembered Smelly Gabe and couldn't be happier that Sally had found someone who thought the idea of hurting her was preposterous. "I am very proud to see you here," he said.

"Thank you," Percy said. The three of them smiled at each other. "Okay, go!" he ordered them, making them laugh a little. "Before I change my mind and make you stay!"

"We're going, we're going," Sally said, dragging Paul out of the door. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Percy said before turning back to the bedroom and looking in on Jason. "Hey, roomie."

Jason rolled completely over and sighed. "I think we should drink to something, roomie," he replied. Percy wondered if he wanted a celebratory drink or an escape from the memory of your ex drink.

Either way, "I couldn't agree more, roomie," Percy said. He had travelled from New York with Annabeth, so when her Dad bought her a bottle of champagne to celebrate college with, Sally had bought him one as well, making him promise to drink with moderation. He popped open the bottle and poured two glasses. "To us," he said, holding his up.

"And college," Jason added, clinking glasses with Percy and drinking.

A/N: Hi! So, I wasn't planning on publishing this for another couple weeks, so I could get a few more chapters done and finish off at least one of the other three stories I have going at the moment. But two of them are nearing a close and I got really inspired with this one. I have some big plans ahead!

For those who don't know me, I'm Izzy. You may or may not know my prequel Jeyna series that I got going on - if you do, I want to tell you now that this is completely unrelated to that series. Jason and Reyna have some whole different dynamics going on here, so don't expect this to be like a sequel story.

Another Jeyna related note: This story takes place a little after the war with Gaia, and Jason chose New Rome. I didn't change much about the Jiper relationship, they were still in love and Jason will miss her like crazy, and you won't find any Piper hate. The only thing that's kind of different is that they're broken up.

This is actually my fist time writing for Percabeth, so please let me know if I'm doing it wrong, if they're OOC or anything. Reyna may seem a little OOC, but that's because I wanted to explore a different side of her, the Reyna she was before she had to take control of Rome all by herself. Just a little more fun, is all, but still our bad ass queen!

Anyway, if you know me already, you know that reviews make my life, so please leave one! Thanks! -Izzy