Across the Hall - Percabeth College AU

Part 1 - Percy's POV

In all honesty, I never thought I'd get here. I never thought I would be trailing a massive suitcase through a narrow hallway with blaring welcome music ringing in my ears. I never thought I'd be scanning the doors for my name, instead finding names of unknown people which vanished from my memory as soon as I looked away. I never thought I'd make it to college.

When I got to the very last door in the hall, I saw my name on the door, written in neat letter on blue card stock. Percy Jackson. Directly below it, the same handwriting spelled out the name of my roommates. Jason Grace and Nico DiAngelo.

I hoped they weren't inside already. With my mom squeezing in every possible minute of "Percy time" she could over the last few weeks, I'd hardly had a moment to myself. It would be great to get a minute alone while I unpacked. Besides, if I was the first one in, I could get dibs on the top bunk.

I knocked on the door, and it instantly spun open to a smiling face. So much for alone time. A guy can dream.

"You must be Percy!" the guy on the other side greeted. I couldn't help but notice that this dude was seriously attractive. His grin showed off stunningly white teeth. His blond hair waved gently despite the fact that I couldn't feel a breeze. He had seriously toned arms, but the glasses on his face gave him a bit of a bad-boy nerd look. The only thing that ruined the symmetry of his face was a slight scar over his lip.

I swear I'm not in love with him. I'm confident enough in myself to notice when another guy is attractive. Just so we're on the same page.

"I'm Jason, Jason Grace," he said, extending a hand. I shook it and smiled kindly.

"Nice to meet you, Jason. I'm Percy Jackson, but I guess you already knew that."

"Well your name is on the door," Jason said. Nothing gets past this guy. "Nico and I have been here for hours, so you were the only one left."

"Hey," a voice said from above my head. Startled, I looked up and saw a face looking back at me. I hadn't notice the person, most likely Nico, sitting cross-legged in the bunk above a desk. He looked like Jason's polar opposite. His long, dark hair fell freely around his face, his eyes looked perpetually tired, and his was very closed off.

"Hey, Nico. I'm Percy. Nice to meet you." All I got in response was a tight-lipped nod before he shoved a pair of earphones on his head and laid back.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Don't take it personally," he said, keeping his voice low. "In the last few hours I've gotten about four words out of him."

I raised an eyebrow. "Five bucks to whoever has the longest conversation with Nico by midnight?"

Jason grinned. "I like you. You're on." He shook my hand, and I couldn't help but smile back. Jason seemed like a cool guy. "If you wanna set your stuff down, I can show you around a bit. Your bed in below mine."

Great. Bottom bunk.

After heaving my suitcase on top of the bed, I followed Jason out of our room, down the residence hall, and through a wide set of double doors in a fairly spacious room. I could see a small kitchen dominating one corner of the space, the opposite side featuring a few couches, chairs, and a beanbag stationed around a coffee table.

"This is our floor's common area," Jason explained. "If you ever need to get out of your dorm, microwave some ramen, work on homework, this is a great place to do it. But the best part is right there." As he said it, he pointed to a pair of doors identical to the ones we just entered through directly across from us.

"Doesn't that just lead to the other residence hall?" I asked.

"Yeah, it does," Jason said with a conspiratorial grin. "The girls' residence hall."

I raised an eyebrow and laughed at Jason's expression. "Really? Is that allowed?"

Jason shrugged. "Usually floors are divided by gender, but I guess more girls accepted enrollment this year than guys, so they had to change half of this floor to girls' dorms."

"I guess we got lucky then," I said, elbowing him.

Jason jerked his head toward the door. "Come on. They usually leave the it unlocked."

"You are such an idiot," I mocked, but I followed him toward the door.

Jason threw up his hands. "Aw man, my cover's blown. I was hoping we could be friends for at least a week before you figured that out." He reached out and pushed against it- sure enough, it opened.

They way Jason hyped this up (and this May have been influenced by movies), I was expecting a flurry of feathers as girls chased each other around in their pajamas whacking each other with pillows.

I was disappointed.

The door swung open to reveal a hallway that looked identical to the ours. The dorm directly ahead had wide open doors, but that didn't show for much either. The room was empty accept for a few bags and two (regularly clothed) girls laughing with each other.

One of the girls with dark skin and choppy brown hair turned and glared daggers at Jason and I. "Stay in your own side!" she shouted, reaching up to slam the door shut.

Before she could, the other girl turned as well, and her eyes met mine. I felt something tighten in my chest. I'd always thought of gray as a boring color, but the gray of her irises were the most dynamic shades I'd ever seen. They shined like the scales of fish catching the sunlight and throwing it back in all directions. After the door slammed shut, the image was seared into my brain, like a flash of light imprinted on your eyelids every time you blink.

I wasn't usually one for first impressions, but something inexplicable drew me to that girl across the hall.

Hey guys, I hope you like my first story! I don't usually write much and I'm not sure how active this fandom is anymore, but I love percabeth and wanted to share something. Hopefully part 2 will be out soon!