Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

FRANK ZHANG

They had a joint birthday party for Percy and Will at the end of August. It was also a going away party. Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Frank were starting college first. They were moving into their small apartment the next day. Shel was back in Oklahoma, getting ready to go to college, so it was just the 11 of them at Frank's house.

"What if I don't see you all for super long?" Will asked, being overly emotional. "What am I supposed to do without y'all?"
"Hey," Nico pushed him. "You're coming home as often as possible. The thought of going back to school is bad enough, especially without all of you there. We have to meet up- all of us- at very least once a month."
"Travel fees," Reyna sighed. "Well, travel fees will be worth it," she rested her head on Rachel's shoulder.

"Is no one else like- terrified?" Frank asked. "I mean, I'm staying in New York, but still. We're going to college-"
"Most of us," Hazel rolled her eyes. "While we're stuck-"
"Boohoo," Leo stuck his tongue out at her. It was the first time Frank saw Leo relatively happy in a long time, even if it was still fake. Everyone was faking.

"You have Percy, Grover and Annabeth," Reyna said to Frank. "I'm going alone. So is Will."
"Not his fault that you decided to go to Harvard to spite people," Rachel teased.
"It wasn't to spite people-"
"Totally was."

"Hey-" Grover interrupted. "Either way, we're all going to miss each other."
"Yeah," Piper smiled. "A lot. It'll be weird, going to classes without all of you there."
"At least Grover has the chance of finding love. It would be about time," Hazel joked.
"Oh, come on!" Grover groaned.

• • •

The next day, Frank drove to NYU with Hazel and Rachel, who were planning on getting the bus back home after helping Frank and the others unpack. Percy drove with Grover. Annabeth went in a car with Sally. That was the only way they could all fit everything they were bringing.

"I can't believe I have to go back to school on Monday," Hazel complained. "Yet here I am, helping my boyfriend move into an apartment with his friends-"
"Hazel, school is going to be fine. Senior year was a blast," Frank ensured her.
"Hm. Sure."
"Hey, lovers," Rachel leaned forward in the backseat of the car. "Take this left. We'll be here soon."

They parked beside Percy's car, which was also close to Sally's car.
"Wow," Grover said. "We're here."
"Really?" Annabeth replied sarcastically. "Didn't notice."
Sally smiled. "C'mon. Time to get unpacking. Percy, did you bring the frying pan?"
"Mhm."
"And the spatulas?"
"Yes. Although I don't know why we'd need spatulas-"
"You never know!"

• • •

They found their apartment, which was smaller than expected, but there were three bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. Percy and Annabeth quickly claimed the biggest bedroom, insisted it was okay because they were sharing. It was totally unfair.

"This place is nice," Hazel smiled, helping Frank unpack.
"It is. College is gonna suck without you, though."
"You'll be just fine. Especially when you're out partying every night-"
"I will not!"
Hazel just raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Percy and Grover maybe but Annabeth and I are smart, mature, independen-"
"Blah blah blah!"
"Ughhh."

• • •

Unpacking took more time than necessary, probably because Hazel kept fighting everyone to play Taylor Swift. Frank was not disappointed when she won the argument. Yeah, after almost a year of dating, Hazel had turned Frank into a swiftie. (Okay, maybe he was a swiftie beforehand. No one needed to know that, though.)

"I'm starving," Grover complained.
"Time for our triple date!" Rachel jumped. "Grover, you're my date for today. Don't tell Reyna."
"Oh yay," he replied sarcastically.

They went to a nearby restaurant to get lunch before Hazel and Rachel had to go home. College would've been a lot better if they were there, too. But that wasn't the case. Since they started dating, he hadn't been away from Hazel for more than two days. It was going to be tough not seeing her, but they were in love and relationships like theirs didn't end that quickly.

They were so busy taking that Frank didn't notice the time passing.
"Oh shit-" Rachel said, looking at her phone. "Hazel, our bus leaves in ten minutes!"
"Shit!" She jumped up. "We have to go! I love you all! I'll miss you! Visit this weekend! And next! Love yous," she kissed Frank. "I love you. Have fun. Don't party too much."
"What she said," Rachel nodded. "But I'm not kissing you Frank."
"I'm not complaining."
"We miss you already!" Hazel said, before grabbing her things and running out of the restaurant with Rachel.

"Then there was four!" Percy sighed. "I miss them already. I miss my mom. I never thought I'd have to say this, but I miss Paul fucking Blofis."
"Percy," Frank said. "It's hasn't even been a day. You've been away from them for longer than this-"
"I still miss them. Don't you already miss Hazel?"
"...yes."

"Guys," Grover smiled. "We got each other. We're in college!"
"That's true," Annabeth nodded. "College is going to be amazing. As long as we're together."

———

Word Count: 876

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A/N: kinda wanted something better for chapter 100 but oops
On that note HAPPY CHAPTER 100

It's been almost a year since I started posting this fic and wow 😭 maybe it doesn't have that much reads, votes or comments, but I honestly don't care. You people who read this make it all worthwhile. I love writing it and reading all of your lovely comments. So thank you <3 I love you all a lot

However :(, one hundred chapters is a lot and I hate to tell y'all but this fic will be ending soon. The good news is that this gives more time for the rewrite, which is going to be a lot more fun:D

Also I'm sorry for not updating in a while 😭 I guess I took some sort of a break and came back to a lot of notifications so thank you