A/N: This AU hits very close to home for me. I just recently started college, and several of the people that I had been friends with since kindergarten moved away, and I won't get to see them everyday like I was used to when we were in high school. I was kind of upset, and it definitely helped me to write it down. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this.

In no way is this one-shot connected to the Punk!Percabeth collection. Although, I am working on the next addition. Also, I don't know anything about the University of Alabama. I toured their campus, but I don't know anything else about it, so don't be offended if you go to school there and I got some of the stuff wrong.

And, this is kind of sad so, be careful? I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

She was crying.

"Annabeth," Percy whispered.

She smiled tightly and wiped the tears from her face, begging her brain to let the tears stop for just another few minutes. Just until he left. Just until he couldn't see her anymore. That would be better. He would be better if he didn't see her crying. She needed to be strong for him. She was proud of him.

But the thing was, she loved him too, and she just couldn't let go of him without falling apart.

Percy was leaving for school today. He had picked the University of Alabama because of their awesome swim team and the psychology department. It was a great school, and the campus was really awesome, but it was far from home. Too far. He knew that when he picked it though. He knew that he would have to leave his home, his mom, and her. He still hadn't turned down the scholarship.

And he would have been crazy to. Even though there were a few other schools that were offering him a swimming scholarship, none of them had the benefits that Alabama did. It was the best place for him to be. It was where he needed to go. She had told him that several times. She had comforted him when he thought it would be too far or too much. She told him that they would be okay even though they were almost a thousand miles apart.

That didn't mean that she believed any of it. And he probably knew that. He probably knew that it was going to be way harder than they thought it would.

"Go, Percy," she said, hoping that she was smiling. "You're going to miss your flight."

"Come to the airport with me," he said again. He had already begged her to go with him several times, but if she went then she definitely wouldn't be able to let him go.

She shook her head.

His shoulders slumped, and he set his backpack down on the ground beside him. He sighed, "Okay. Can you just give me a hug?"

She folded into his arms, holding on for dear life. She didn't want to let go. She didn't want him to go. She didn't want to do this alone.

"This isn't goodbye," he said fiercely, whispering into her ear.

She clutched at his shoulders, "Okay."

"I'm serious. You're still my best friend even if I'm a million miles away. No one could ever replace you," he said.

"Okay," she said, choking on her tears.

"Promise me that you won't get a new best friend?"

She pressed further into his chest while she could, "There's no one but you, Percy."

He sighed again, and Annabeth tightened her grip for one second before she let go and stepped out of his arms.

"I'm not done yet," Percy said, reaching for her again.

Annabeth didn't let him pull her into his arms again. Instead, she just stood there and smiled softly at him.

"You have to go," she said.

He winced and wiped at his eyes. She was surprised to see a few tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. Out of all the years that they had been best friends, Annabeth had only seen Percy cry once. Her heart felt like it was ripping into a million pieces. She couldn't do this. She couldn't—

She stepped back to him and wiped his tears away with her fingertips. She smiled at him and said, "It's okay. Don't cry."

"I don't want to go anymore," he murmured, huddling closer to her. "I'm just going to stay here with you. I can take a scholarship from here, and then I can be with you and—"

She interrupted him, "No, Percy. You want to go to Alabama. You're going to go down there and kill it on the swim team, and I will see you at Thanksgiving, okay? And besides, if I do need to come down there, then I can just bounce my dad for some money and jump on a plane. Everything is going to be fine. You're going to go down there and have so much fun, and you won't even miss me anymore."

"I always miss you," he said, giving her a dry look.

"I know," she said. "But it's going to be fine. Now you seriously have to get to the airport before I start sobbing."

He cupped her chin, "Don't cry."

She rolled her eyes and shoved at his chest. Well. She meant to. Her hands ended up resting over his heart instead. "That's like asking me not to breath. Which sounds just as tempting right now."

"Me too," Percy said, pressing his forehead to hers. "I feel like someone is sitting on my chest."

Annabeth huffed out a laugh and started to pull him to the car door. He was meeting his mom and Paul at the airport, and they were going to bring his Jeep back home once he was on his flight.

He was clutching at one of her hips and holding her other hand in a death grip. Maybe he was trying to memorize how it felt to touch her because that's what she was doing. She needed to have enough memories in reach to last until the next time that she saw him.

She opened the door to his car and pushed him toward it. He was frowning down at her, but he climbed into the seat after a few seconds. She leaned across him and buckled his seat belt, and Percy pulled her into another hug.

"I'll see you soon," she said, leaning up to tighten her arms around him.

"Okay, I'm gonna miss you so much. Call me. Text me. Snapchat, FaceTime, Email, just please. Please keep in touch with me. I can't do this without you," he whispered.

She nodded against his shoulder and pulled away. "Of course, you dork. Whenever you need me, I'll be right here."

He was biting his lip, so she leaned forward and kissed his cheek swiftly before stepping back completely.

"Hey," Percy said. His voice broke, and there were a few more tears in his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she felt a few traitorous tears fall from her eyes. "Be careful down there."

He smiled tightly and dragged her forward again, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and then one to her cheek, and then one to her jaw and—

She turned her head away. If he kissed her on the lips then she wouldn't be able to let him go at all.

Percy looked miserable as she stepped away and shut his car door. He rolled down the window immediately and put his hand out, setting it on her face. He said, "I love you, Annabeth. You're my best friend. I couldn't do any of this without you."

She smiled at him and set her hands on his arm, leaning into his hand, "I know, and I love you, too. Call me when you get all of your stuff moved in and things calm down."

"Okay," he said. "I'll see you soon."

"Yes, you will. Now, go! And be careful!" She said, swiping her tears off of her face.

He nodded and took one last look at her before he pulled away from the curb. She watched the Jeep stop at the stop sign before it turned and disappeared from her sight.

Annabeth sat down on the curb and cried.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review!

-SomethingMoreCreative