Full Summary: The Demigods, an up-and-coming rock group comprised of Jason Grace, Percy Jackson, and Leo Valdez are about to go head to head with another popular group: the Half-Bloods, whose singer Piper McLean is the daughter of a famous movie star. Her bandmates Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, aren't anyone to mess with either. With the help of their personal manager Annabeth Chase, will the Demigods be able to survive a rivalry with a much more established band, along with the trials of college in New York City and matters of the heart?

This is a College/Rock-Band AU set in New York City.

Pairings will include: Percy/Annabeth (Percabeth), Jason/Piper (Jiper/Jasper), Frank/Hazel (Frazel), Leo/Nico (Valdangelo/Leico), & Thalia/Reyna (Theyna)

Go to the link below for the 8tracks playlist that goes with the fic!(Without the spaces and add all the rest of course!)

8tracks / spottedleafpaw / this-will-be-our-year-fic-playlist

Chapter songs are:
I'm Not Over (the Demigods)
Synthetica (the Half-Bloods)

Without further ado, enjoy!

This Will Be Our Year

It's not a common thing for many people to comprehend, that's for sure. The thrill that comes along with setting up your equipment on stage, the lights shifting to focus onto you, the roar of the crowd as you take your place with perhaps a coy smile in their general direction. The jolt of electricity that comes with playing the first note, the adrenaline pumping through your veins as the music courses through your heart and out into the night. No, it wasn't a common feeling, but it was something that those who were a part of bands like the three boys of the Demigods or the smash-hit group the Half-Bloods both could feel quite well. It never used to be anything as big as stadiums filled with cheering fans, no, it started out for them in much smaller doses and with much more rivalry. Before they became the next big thing, they hated each other with a passion, and this is their story...

~.~

Percy Jackson fought to stay awake in his Intro to Astronomy class, ballpoint pen lying capped and unused on top of a blank notebook as his professor droned on. Next to him, his girlfriend Annabeth Chase was scribbling feverishly into her own notebook and every once in awhile shooting him a glare that clearly stated 'Pick up your goddamn pen and take your own notes.' Percy ignored her, however, and tried to focus on keeping his eyelids from drooping by shifting them to the clock. Five more minutes and it'd be time to head out to lunch; that was all that kept him going, that and the promise of band practice later.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he waited for a moment where the professor had turned his back to scrawl something on the whiteboard with a green Expo marker before he pulled out his phone to peek at it. It was Jason, who had texted him in the group message he was a part of along with the rest of their close friends.

Jason Grace: How does Chinese food sound to you guys? Meet at Panda?

Not too long after that did another message pop into the conversation before Percy could reply.

Leo Valdez: I'm down, just don't let Grover get there first or he'll swap all our food with soy shit.

Grover Underwood: STFU, I'm already there anyway ;)

Percy Jackson: We'll be there, Grover I swear to god...

With that, Percy shoved his phone back in his pocket as the professor dismissed them shortly after, swiping his notebook and pen into his light backpack and turning towards Annabeth.

"We're getting Panda together with the guys for lunch, sound good?" he asked her as she put away considerably more study materials than he did.

"Yeah, that's fine, just remember I can't stay long since I have that business call I need to make for you guys and then work on my blueprints," she said, tastefully leaving out her annoyance with his shoddy note-taking skills in favor of grabbing his hand as they walked out of the classroom and began making their way across campus towards the Student Center.

"You do so much, I still don't know how, but I love you for it!" he was a bit awed, kissing her on the cheek and reveling in the small smile it tugged to her lips as they walked.

Percy and Annabeth had been together since junior year of high school, despite having known each other for much longer. They, along with most of their friends, had all graduated from Athens High School in New York State, where they had all lived up until they had made their way to college at Columbia University. They were followed there by their friend Grover Underwood among other classmates from high school, although they saw less and less of each other as the school was rather large.

A year later, they were joined by Jason and Leo, who were a year younger than them but couldn't wait to catch up and make it in college. The year wait was tough on Percy, and the reason was because he, Leo, and Jason had formed a rock band back in high school by the name of the Demigods. They started playing together in ninth grade for Percy, eighth for the younger two, and throughout the years increasingly improved and became something of a sensation in their town and surrounding areas. Percy played bass guitar, with Leo on drums while Jason took on the role of lead singer and lead guitar.

As Percy and Annabeth made their way through the crowded Student Center, he kept a lookout for his friends in the line or at any of the tables scattered through the dining areas. He spotted Grover almost immediately; Grover had a habit of standing out as his heavily curly hair was dreaded with a few beads threaded through it, and it was shoved every day or so in a different woven beanie. His goatee was curling under his chin a bit as he had already started chowing down on a burrito, forgoing the Asian food it seemed. Next to him was his newly established girlfriend Juniper, another nature freak as Percy affectionately dubbed them. She also had a few dreads in her amber hair which was dyed with a few streaks of green to match her eyes. She had threaded a few feathers in it, and wore flowery clothing almost constantly.

Percy waved over at them before he and Annabeth walked over to Panda Express in order to get their lunch. As they got in line, they spotted Jason and Leo a few moments later coming to join them. Leo's curly dark hair was a bit windswept, and the mischievous glint in his eyes matched the silver barbell earring he had sticking through his right ear. He was wearing a dark red long sleeved shirt and distressed jeans with gray vans, his arms covered in leather bracelets as they always were. Jason on the other hand was wearing simple dark jeans and a dark purple hoodie over a white shirt, his converse looking scuffed as usual.

"Dudes, I'm so ready to practice the new song today I'm probably going to eat faster than Grover," Leo quipped, an excited grin splayed on his features.

"Yeah, that riff you came up with goes really well with the overall beat, I can't wait to get them all in action," Percy replied honestly, nodding at Jason who smiled widely, stretching the scar across his lip as he did so.

"Remember I'm getting you that gig today no matter what, so you'd better practice the hell out of your old stuff today too," Annabeth chastised as before she walked up to place her order and pay for her food with her student ID card.

"Your girlfriend is seriously the best," Jason muttered, shaking his head a bit. Annabeth acted as their sort of personal manager and sound engineer, working on booking them for shows and combining her expertise with Leo in order to mix and master their music on all sorts of crazy computer programs that Percy didn't understand fully but had a general idea of.

"Then you should get one just as awesome, it's about time don't you think?" Percy grinned, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Jason. He and Leo both snickered before he walked forward and ordered his food, swiping his ID card to charge some of the dining dollars he used to pay.

He and Annabeth waited with their food for Leo and Jason to join them before they headed back over to where Grover was still sitting with Juniper. Percy took a seat next to him and caught a whiff of weed as Grover turned towards him to peruse what was on his plate.

"Ahh, man! How can you eat this stuff?" Grover whined, pointing to Percy's plateful of sweet and sour chicken. "Those animals were alive once!"

"Yeah, and they served their purpose well to become my tasty lunch," Leo snarked back before shoving an entire shrimp coated in soy sauce in his mouth. Even Percy had to wrinkle his nose at that; Percy made a point to avoid eating seafood whenever he could, since his dad worked as a big-time maritime tycoon and in general fish was something Percy couldn't stomach. Percy himself was studying Oceanography which was another reason he hated the thought of eating seafood... He simply knew too much about it.

They finished their lunch all together in contented joking around and complaining about classes as normal college kids would; the only difference was that on occasion groups of students who passed them would stop and do a double take before whispering to one another. The Demigods were a popular enough group among some of the resident hipsters and crazy fangirls for a lot of Columbia to recognize the members, especially when they were all three together. Jason got the worst of it, normally; as frontman, he was the most recognizable, and from time to time a group of giggling fangirls might approach him and ask for a picture or even a date if they were bold enough. Percy never understood why he didn't take them up on their offers, but he also knew that Jason wasn't the type of guy to go out with someone just like that.

Percy himself would get recognized a few times but Annabeth was normally by his side and the girls wouldn't do anything too pushy under her steely gaze. Leo was the least remembered, and sometimes Percy wondered if it got to him; as drummer, he was in the back and behind a large instrument that blocked him off from whatever crowd was there viewing them. If Leo ever got recognized it was mostly by fellow musicians or guys who appreciated his 'mad drumming skill' or something like that. Percy supposed that all this male attention was probably why Leo was comfortable coming out as bisexual to his bandmates one evening.

Once they were all packed up and ready, they left the Student Center in a group before beginning to make their way off campus and towards the bus stop. They all lived off campus in an apartment complex that was honestly not too far by walking distance, which basically made the whole place a sort of student housing without actually being for the students. Tons of others attending the University lived in this complex, and every weekend it turned into a rather rowdy area for parties and all sorts of crazy shenanigans. After hopping off the bus and into the building, they clambered into an elevator hurriedly as they wanted to get to their instruments as soon as possible.

"You coming to practice today guys?" Jason asked Grover and Juniper, whose apartment was a few levels above their own.

"Yeah, dude, we'll probably swing by after a little something," Grover grinned, miming holding a joint and sucking on it with his fingertips as Juniper laughed. Leo pouted, muttering about being left out while Annabeth rolled her eyes and hopped off the elevator followed by the three other boys. She pulled her key out of her bag and unlocked their apartment door, heading straight for the room she and Percy shared.

"I'm going to get on that phone call and work on some homework, so you guys have fun. If I get done before you, I'll come join you alright?" she said, backtracking quickly and kissing Percy before entering the room and shutting the door. Percy's lips tingled a bit from where her own had touched his, but that seemed to always happen when they kissed; four years of dating still did that to him, so he supposed he was lucky. Annabeth wanted to be an architect, so her homework was really important to her and it didn't bother him if she missed their band practice a few times. Hell, she made up for it with all the other things she did for them as a band.

Their apartment wasn't really as messy as one would expect, with three boys living there. Annabeth saw to it that they established roommate rules which were posted on a large whiteboard lest they forget; also on the board were weekly chore requirements, such as dishes and laundry and trash runs. The kitchen was usually the most messy of the common areas, but only because three boys living together meant that someone would be eating something at some point no matter what.

Percy set his backpack outside the closed door to his and Annabeth's shared room while Leo and Jason tossed their stuff in their room; they had to share one as it was only a two-bedroom apartment, so they maximized on space with a bunk bed that was probably one of the greatest ideas ever at first, until they realized how awkward it was going to get if either of them brought someone home or worse, got a significant other.

Jason grabbed his guitar and slung it over his shoulder, while Leo only had a small bag filled with drumsticks and other paraphernalia that he used to tune his kit, and Percy suddenly realized his bass guitar was still in his room. Smacking himself in the forehead, he quietly opened the door and snuck in; Annabeth was already on the phone and she shot him a glare, but laughed at something the other person said in her business-like fashion that she only used for situations like this.

"Of course, they'd love to be the headliners! It's not a problem, though, even if another band wants to share the slot with them..." she continued to schmooze the person on the other end of the line. Percy grabbed his bass guitar and stared at his girlfriend as she tucked the phone in between the crook of her neck while gathering up her curly hair into a messy ponytail, muttering small 'mhmms' every once in awhile as the person continued to talk to her. Percy couldn't resist, so he ducked forward and planted a kiss on her cheek and then trailed his lips along her now exposed neck, causing her to intake a sharp breath before biting her lip and smacking him, playful gray eyes meeting his own. She mouthed 'get going!' before he chuckled and backed out of the room, instrument in tow.

"Geez, Perce, you're all over the place today!" Jason joked, and Percy rolled his eyes before following him out if the apartment. They couldn't practice in their apartment complex due to noise levels, of course, so they rented out a small little practice space which included a storage room for all their equipment not too far from there; they normally took the subway, but sometimes Jason drove. Today was one of those days, and so they piled into Jason's car and made their way over to The Band Camp, which was often buzzing with other local bands who were there for the same reason as they were. None were quite as well known as the Demigods, however, and so every time they came to rehearse they attracted a decent crowd of fellow musicians and their groupies once the word got out.

"Hey dudes! Got anything sick planned for that new tune today?" Will, the current employee on duty (and oftentimes the only employee on duty) greeted them as they came in, tossing them their storage room key and following them out from behind the booth in order to open up one of the practice rooms.

"We hope so, you're welcome to come in and listen a bit if you're not too busy!" Jason replied, already rolling the equipment cart over to their room as Leo unlocked the door to begin grabbing his drum kit.

"I tapped out another cool beat today in math class, I can't wait to try it out!" he said, darting back and forth with his stuff almost faster than they could keep track of him. Leo had a form of severely established ADHD, and drumming was an outlet for it that kept him in check rather well. As Percy and his bandmates set up their practice room and he put together his bass guitar's pedal board, he mused over the supposed future gig that he heard Annabeth talking about.

"I overheard Annabeth on the phone to whoever she was booking the gig for, she was saying something about us being headliners!" he began, watching as Leo's face lit up and Jason grinned at him from behind the mic he was attaching to the stand.

"That's awesome! Did you get anything else?" Jason asked into the mic, the sound coming on halfway through and reverberating through the room causing Percy to jump a bit.

"She did say something about another band maybe sharing the spot with us, but I'm not sure who they are or what the deal is," Percy continued as he fixed his amp behind him and attached his bass to it. Leo frowned and, having finished setting up his kit in record time, pulled his drumsticks out of his bag and smashing them across the snare rather rapidly.

"Dude, we don't need to share with anyone else! We're badass enough by ourselves!" he griped.

"Yeah, well this sounds like a good gig so I'm not going to turn it down," Jason said with finality, hooking up his guitar and giving it a couple of tweaks to get the tuning back in order. He had a rather vintage Fender Jaguar, from the '60s, while Percy's was a Fender Jazz bass of a newer year. Leo's kit was a Gretsch Renown Euro 4-piece shell kit, with black and red accents, and he used Zildjan cymbals.

As they finished setting up, they immediately turned to Jason waiting for instruction. He furrowed his brow slightly as he thought of which songs to start with, before settling on one and beginning to play the chords on his guitar as a hint to his bandmates. They always started practice this way, with Jason having them guess which song he wanted to start warming up with and then getting into it all together. As they began to all play the song together from the top, Jason's voice entering as the first sets of lyrics flowed freely from his lips, Percy exchanged a look with Leo that showcased their shared curiosity and concern for whoever might be sharing the stage with them at this upcoming gig.

~.~

Piper McLean took a swig from her water bottle before gesturing for her bandmates to stop for a second as she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. Pulling the thin, flat device out and swiping the screen to answer it, she recognized the number as the main booking coordinator of the establishment she and her band were trying to play at in the next few weeks.

"This is Piper McLean," she answered, immediately businesslike.

"Piper? Oh, good, I can tell you the news in person! I'm just calling to let you know that there shouldn't be any problems with the show like we originally thought, and that you're slotted to share the headliner spot with another band for the evening we discussed," the man on the phone explained. Piper shot a thumbs up to her bandmates, but frowned a bit at the last piece of news.

"Sharing the slot? How is that going to work exactly?" she asked, crossing her arm across her waist.

"It's up to the both of you to coordinate, although our suggestion is allowing for your group to go last and this other band to go first... However, our records show that your group does not have a drum kit while they do, which could be problematic in moving it off the stage before you go on. However, we do know that your... connections, shall we say, will allow for you to be a crowd favorite..." the man continued, and Piper had to hold back an exasperated sigh.

"Just organize it how you see fit. One more thing, though, who is this other band we're going to be playing with?" she asked, curious.

"They're called the Demigods, they're pretty popular around here in New York... Look 'em up!" the guy on the phone said, before hanging up. Piper clicked her phone back into sleep mode and shoved it into her pocket before turning back to her bandmates, who had all seemingly heard and understood the conversation fairly well.

"So we're sharing the spot then?" Frank Zhang, the bassist, asked somewhat nervously. His girlfriend Hazel Levesque frowned slightly but began playing a soft melody on her keyboard in order to ease the tension rolling off of their guitarist, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, who gripped her instrument tightly before tossing her dark braid over he shoulder in a huff.

"Why didn't we get the spot all to ourselves? Are we not good enough? Who do these jerkoffs think they are?" she began muttering, while Piper simply shrugged. Truth be told, she was somewhat glad that her band was going through hardship and not getting everything easily and handed to them on a silver platter. They could, if they really wanted to; her father was famous actor Tristan McLean, and he could simply call in a favor any day to an acquaintance of his and Piper's band would shoot to superstardom quicker than a flash.

Piper believed in working for her success, however, so she adamantly refused every time her father offered to help her out, and mostly the press forgot that she existed due to her influence over him. She and her friends all attended the same boarding school growing up, and had all formed a band together as a result of Piper's desire to make something of herself that wasn't under her father's limelight. They called themselves the Half-Bloods as each member wasn't fully one ethnicity. Originally from Canada, Frank Zhang had joined her little endeavor along with Hazel Levesque, later his girlfriend, who hailed all the way from New Orleans. Reyna was Puerto Rican and a year older than them, but she joined up out of the strong feelings she had of being better at something than her older sister, who was supposedly quite well off and considered some sort of social royalty among the women powerhouses of New York City.

They were joined by Hazel's half brother Nico di Angelo after some persuasion; he took up the title of synthesist, using all sorts of technological equipment to create various cool sounds and beats which substituted their need for a drummer. Once they had all finished school, they had applied to NYU and had been accepted, which is where they all attended school as of now. Piper's dad spared no expense when it came to moving their band life to New York; Hazel and Nico's father was also quite wealthy, and he chipped in by paying for most of their living arrangements. Nico and Frank shared a small apartment together while Piper, Hazel, and Reyna lived in the same complex in another one. Piper's father bought them a rehearsal area and studio that used to be a small garage of sorts and had it converted with all the latest equipment, which served as their general base of operations almost every day.

Piper gripped the microphone stand in front of her before coughing a bit to get the other band members' attention. She wasn't going to let another band show her up that night, they had worked hard to get that slot and despite whatever issues they'd face she planned to come out on top that night.

"I don't know who these people are, and frankly it doesn't matter. We're still going to put on a kickass show and be the talk of the night, but we gotta practice if that's what we want to happen. Let's try that new one we were working on, see what comes of it..." she finished with a nod, and Nico pressed a button on his main synth before the rest jumped in and Piper began to sing.

Okay guys, I'm back! I needed to start with something fresh in order to get back into the swing of writing after falling into a sort of break that honestly I don't know where it came from... Perhaps I was just too tired to even care about anything and thus I lapsed into a writer's block?

This story is going to be fun, though, and hopefully turn out to be one of the better college/band PJO universe AU's :) Here's to hoping, I guess?

Accompanying this song will be an 8tracks account with varying songs for you guys to listen to that I have in mind for each band... Pairings are also set already, and I hope you'll all be pleased with the way that it turns out.

The instruments were chosen for pretty obvious reasons, though if you'd like more explanation please leave me a comment and I'll expand on it all. If there is anything at all that you want more details on, I'll probably get to it eventually but I like knowing via comments too! I'll reveal everybody's major or what they plan on studying and backstories as the story progresses... I think so far we only have Percy and Annabeth's explicitly stated.