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Dust settled on the streets, animals stopped crying, and blood started drying. Everything seemed calm.
All the prisoners were cooperating, some Myrmidons were starting the search for valuable items to carry back to the camp, others were preparing funeral pyres for the dead. The raid was a complete success by all means. There was only one thing that worried Achilles in the moment.
Where the fuck is Patroclus?
At some point in the battle against la résistance of the city, Patroclus went away with the chariot, and Achilles never saw him again. Now he was searching for Patroclus. Most Myrmidons were outside the city, so Patroclus probably was with them.
Logically, Achilles knew that Patroclus was fine. Xanthus and Balius always took care of their charioteer after all, and if not them, then the Myrmidons would. Patroclus should be fine.
That thought did nothing to stop the constant shivers of icy worry that traveled through Achilles’ body from head to toe. He had to find Patroclus. What if something had happened to him while Achilles wasn’t looking? He always felt anxiety when he wasn’t close to Patroclus in battle, as if by the mere fact of the two of them being apart the gods would strike Patroclus down.
Achilles had had dreams, about his Patroclus dead in a puddle of his own blood, alone and without armor, spear broken and useless by his side, while both Achaeans and Trojans rushed to his corpse like vultures. Achilles always wakes up screaming from those dreams; his lover by his side, kissing him softly to calm him down, reassuring him that everything was ok.
Stupid dreams were only that, stupid meaningless dreams, it didn’t exist even the smallest possibility that something like that could happen. The prince of the myrmidons and best of the Achaeans wouldn’t allow something like that to happen.
Except if Patroclus is alone, then-
“Shut up, shut up, shut up, nothing has happened, and nothing will happen” Achilles whispered under his breath, like a chant to chase away bad thoughts.
He continued the search for his companion, trying (and failing) to not step on the corpses in the ground, friend and foe alike. Eventually, he saw in the distance Xanthus and Balius calmly eating some grass, both free from his chariot. At their sides, Automedon was brushing Xanthus’ white coat and an unknow young Myrmidon brushed Balius’ black one. Achilles sighed with relieved. His immortal sentient horses wouldn’t be so happy if something serious had happened to their charioteer.
Achilles approached them and Automedon greeted him.
“Hi prince” he said without stopping his work nor looking at said prince.
Achilles didn’t answer, and instead looked around for his beloved’s tall and handsome figure. He wasn’t there.
“Hey Automedon, have you seen Patroclus? I’ve been searching for him, but I can’t find him”
“Uh?” The other Myrmidon stopped brushing Balius and turned to face him, “Lord Patroclus? Isn’t he in-“
“Shh!” Automedon interrupted before the other could finish, then started to very falsely and loudly cough; after two seconds or so, he cleared his throat “Sorry prince, we haven’t seen him lately, maybe it’d be better to wait for him at camp?”
“Oh, really? You haven’t seen him?” Achilles crossed his arms in front of his chest, moved his hips so his weight rested on one leg, and stared intensely at Automedon.
“Yep; that sounds an awful lot like what I just said”
Ha, ha, with that sense of humor I can see why you are friends with Patroclus.
He huffed and kept staring at Automedon with his best murder glare, but Automedon didn’t seem to mind it at all, bastard. Then he aimed at the other Myrmidon whose name he didn’t care to remember, the soldier flinched and turned to face Balius again.
Automedon noticed “Hey leave the kid alone, ok? he came here after Patroclus left, he doesn’t know where Patroclus is, and neither do I; prince”
Automedon seemed to attach the “prince” as an afterthought, as if to show that he knows he’s but a mere foot soldier. The rest of the sentence just demonstrated that Automedon considers himself more Achilles’ friend than his subject, and far more important, that even if Achilles didn’t like him, he’s Patroclus’ second best friend (the first one being Achilles, obviously), therefore exempt from Achilles’ possible wrath.
Achilles sighed; now he was worried and annoyed. But Automedon was that kind of friend that one moment makes you want to punch him in the face, and the next one he makes you laugh so hard you get dizzy. He briefly remembered the chariot behind the horses, dirty with blood and soil, an idea for revenge popped up in his mind.
“Fine, I’ll keep looking, but I want that chariot to be squeaky clean before we go back to camp, understood?” Achilles punctuated his sentence with a movement of his hand.
Automedon looked at the sky, imploring for patience “Of course, your highness”
Achilles smiled pleased with himself, then walked away. No point in staying when Patroclus wasn’t there.
Afterwards he went back to the city and started looking inside the very recently emptied houses with no luck. There were just a lot, and it was going to take ages to look inside every single one of them. He almost gave up and did as Automedon suggested; go back to camp, and wait for Patroclus, when he heard a familiar lovely voice screaming in the distance.
“Wait!wait!wait! WAIT! Don’t do it yet! I’m not ready! At least let me count to ten or something!”
Achilles’ instinct took over and he started running towards the source of the voice. After a few seconds he arrived to a small house. He kicked open the door and entered, then he saw a peculiar scene before him.
Patroclus was sitting on top of his shield with his legs folded under him. He was wearing most of his armor though the shoulder’s parts were both untied, and one was completely off. He still had the cap that went underneath the helmet to protect the top of the head; said helmet though, along with his spears, sword and sandals were abandoned on a corner of the house for some reason. A Myrmidon was sitting in front of him, hands up as if surrendering, looking scared and a little confused.
Patroclus’ arm had an arrow lodge in it.
Patroclus was injured.
The other guy was just sitting in front of him without doing anything.
An infinite amount of anger flooded Achilles’ body, he took a deep breath and screamed to the man next to Patroclus.
“Get. Out.”
The man was out the door so quickly that Achilles started doubting his title of the fastest man in the army.
“Achilles! Why in Hades did you do that?! He was just helping me! I asked him to help me!”
Patroclus throwed Achilles an angry look from the floor. Achilles felt his own anger disappearing in a few seconds, being replaced with worry and anxiety.
"You have a fucking arrow stuck in your arm" Achilles walked closer to Patroclus and pushed his helmet up to see better.
"Oh, didn't notice, thanks for the valuable information. Another thing you might want to add. Like the sky is blue or something?" Patroclus tried to not to wince while talking.
Achilles ignored his sarcasm and sat in front of him "When did it happen?"
Achilles then noticed that Patroclus looked very annoyed for some reason. "Near the end of the battle, after we separated, an enemy archer was hiding behind a rock, didn't see that fucker until it was too late, then a bunch of Myrmidons went after him, and I asked Xanthus and Balius to get me out of there"
"Why didn't you search for me?"
In a few seconds Patroclus got very exasperated "Because!" He looked at the ceiling, breathed, and after a moment he calmed down "I'm a warrior too Achilles, you know?"
Where did that come from?
"I've never said you weren't one, I’m just asking why you didn’t search for me"
Patroclus huffed irritated "No but you act like as if I'm made of sugar or sand! I knew you'd make a big deal out of this! Then you’d go and stop the raid or something incredibly stupid like that! Just so you can worry over me as if you were my mom" Patroclus tried to breathe deeply again.
Oh! Oh! That’s rich coming from mama hen Patroclus.
Achilles reminded himself that Patroclus probably was in pain, and he tended to act like a little baby-
Nope, not the point, try again.
-He tended to be more emotional when in pain because of his low tolerance of it.
Patroclus continued. "It's a very superficial injury, almost nothing, I don’t want you to worry, because you exaggerate too much, I'm not going to bled to death or anything, I just need to get the arrow out and clean it, I can even do it myself" then he touched his injured arm with his other hand, as if trying to prove that he was right. “See? You worry for nothing! I’m fine!”.
Achilles started to feel something hot in his stomach, hours of worry and anxiety for one man transforming into something else. "This is exactly why I worry! I don’t care if you say I’m exaggerating!” Achilles crossed his arms on top of his chest “I know you aren't weak, everyone in the fucking army knows that. Everyone except you apparently. And you always, always act like you have something to prove, you want to act as if you were invulnerable and then you just disappear in the middle of the battle when you get hurt so no one can see that you obviously aren’t made of bronze! meanwhile I don't even know if you're still alive and I spend hours and hours worrying and searching for you! If I act like a mom is because sometimes you act like a child"
Dammit! I shouldn’t have said that last part!
"I wasn't trying to prove anything, and I’m not a child! I just didn't want to make you upset! And look, now you are upset, like I said you would be!" Patroclus’ tone was rising.
Achilles knew perfectly well that he was quick to fury, and he hated himself every single time he got mad at Patroclus, but in that moment, he couldn’t help himself. He was in distress, searching for his loved one for so much time, and the first thing that Patroclus did when he found him, was to dismiss his feelings like they didn’t matter. It pained Achilles’ heart.
"How in Hades would I not be upset? When you reject my help, reject me like that? And then act like is not a big deal on top of it?!"
"What?! When did I ever reject you?! Most of the time I don’t even fight because of you! I just, drive you around and stay back like you want! Maybe if you trusted me and my skills, you wouldn't be so worried all the time!"
What the fuck are you talking about?!
"I trust you! You are my second in command for fuck's sake! I bet you can go and command my whole goddamned battalion without me! What?! Do you want to be the kings of the Myrmidons or something?! I could do that! If that means that you start talking to me about what happens to you! Or how do you want me to prove that I trust you?!" Achilles then realized he had been screaming.
"I don't want that, I’m not a prince anymore and I don’t to be one again! Besides that’s not the point, you are changing the subject!"
"Then what do you want Patroclus? Uh? Tell me because I simply don’t understand you!"
“Maybe you could understand me, If you listened to a thing of what I say for once in your life!” Patroclus too was screaming “I already told you what I want! Or what? Does everything I tell you enters one ear and goes out the other?"
Achilles could feel a fire inside him roaring.
"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT THEN?!"
"I WANT FOR YOU TO STOP TREATING ME LIKE A FUCKING CHILD!"
"BUT I DON'T!"
Patroclus used his good hand to cover his eyes for a little as if trying to find peace of mind, but when he removed it, there was cold steel behind his eyes. Any lesser man would’ve fled at that sight alone.
"Then why do you act like I might collapse if someone looks at me the wrong way?! HUH?! You are always nagging and yapping at me ‘Patroclus, don’t do this’ ‘Patroclus don’t do that’ ‘Patroclus stay at the back’ ‘Patroclus you should stay in the medical tent today, don’t go into the battlefield’ ‘Patroclus! Patroclus!’ Do you think I’m stupid?! ‘Poor stupid little Patroclus can’t do anything without his nanny’ Or why do you act like that?! Why?!”
Achilles closed his eyes and breathed, not saying anything.
“Why?!” Patroclus continued.
Achilles stood up and started walking around with his eyes still closed turning his back to Patroclus.
“Achilles?! don’t you ignore me now and answer me for once in your life!”
Wrath bubbling up in his chest and pounding in his head, he tried to cover up his ears with his hands.
“Achilles?” Patroclus’ voice started to sound worried, not that Achilles noticed.
Achilles knew he shouldn’t let his anger out now, not against Patroclus, It wasn’t Patroclus’ fault that he had gotten angry, because he always gets angry, and he already knew Patroclus was tense, it doesn’t-.
“Achilles-“
ENOUGH!
"BECAUSE I'D RATHER DIE THAN LOSE YOU; YOU, FUCKING MORON, THAT’S WHY I FUCKING WORRY! BUT NOW I WISH YOU’D JUST DIE SO I COULD FINALLY BE AT PEACE!"
The scream echoed in the small house for an eternity, even though in theory it shouldn’t be more than a few seconds, maybe Athena was observing and decided to toy with them altering time. Achilles’ throat hurt with the force of the scream. He felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks, great, the last thing he needed.
He shouldn’t have let his anger out, never against his beloved. He didn’t mean to.
Achilles turned back and looked at Patroclus. He had an expression full of pain in his face and his shining eyes looked afraid, To Achilles, he seemed so tiny in that moment; so tiny, vulnerable, and scared, scared of him.
Please gods, don’t let him hate me for this, not him, anyone but him.
Every gram of sweet anger in Achilles body turned to bitter regret. Achilles let his body fall on the ground and putted his knees against his chest. He didn’t dare to look at his companion again.
A painful silence enveloped them; time passed. Achilles closed his eyes and continued to silently cry, afraid he had broken something he couldn’t repair. He should’ve just waited at camp like Automedon said.
"Yeah, uh, what if we just go back to camp already?" Patroclus’ voice sounded so downhearted, unlike his usual cheerful self.
Achilles opened his eyes, and looked at the bleeding wound on the other "You still have a fucking arrow stuck in your arm"
Patroclus looked at his arm like he really forgot about it "whoops! Would you look at that, you’d think I would’ve lost my head already if it wasn’t attach to my neck" Judging by Patroclus’ forced tone, he was trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work.
Achilles let out a breath, willed himself to stop crying, and looked around the house. It appeared like it was very recently emptied, and so small that no Myrmidon seemed to want to lose time looking for precious items that clearly weren’t there, so all the belongings remained. Maybe its owner was capture or killed. He got up, walked around a bit. He found a bowl full of water, and some fabric on a table then proceeded to clean his hands of blood and dirt with the fabric, afterwards he wiped off the tears in his face with the back side of his hands.
Patroclus was silent and didn’t move.
More by muscle memory than conscious thought, he took out the little pouch he always carried with him, full of healing herbs, bandages, and a pestle, putted it on the table. Then he grabbed a little sturdy bowl that was in an almost empty shelve. He placed some of the herbs in the bowl, added a little water, and grinded them into a fine paste.
Afterwards he took the little bowl with the medicine and the bandages on one hand, and balanced the bowl with water on the other, then got back to where Patroclus was sitting. Achilles crouched and carefully putted everything on the floor.
Patroclus was looking at the ground, he resembled a kicked puppy.
Achilles cleared his throat, and as softly as he could he said "Alright, come here"
Patroclus directed his gaze up at him, surprised, as if he expected Achilles to be gone by now. "Why?"
"What do you mean why? I'm gonna get the arrow out" Achilles tried his best to not sound angry.
"I think it'll be better if we go back to camp instead, I can go with Machaon, you don’t need to do this for me"
"No, if we wait until camp, you'll lose more blood than you already have, and it might fester, Machaon can take a look later, but I'm going to treat it now"
"You really don’t need to do this”
"Why are you saying that?"
"I don’t want to cause you more trouble than I already have” Patroclus sounded sorry.
"Patroclus please! Now you are actually acting like a child"
Achilles internally winced at that. He didn’t want to lose his temper again.
Patroclus looked guilty, and then said: "sorry, you are right, but, uh, there might be a problem, you know how much I don't like pain, and I might overreact a little."
Patroclus had a lot of good qualities, he was kind, intelligent, good with animals, but one of his defects was a very low pain tolerance. When they both were kids and Patroclus scrapped his knees, he’d start crying as if he had an arm cut off. Of course, Achilles always used the opportunity to hug him and kiss him on the cheek. Although sometimes it was annoying, but he loved Patroclus no matter what.
"I know, I know, I'll make it quick" Achilles grabbed Patroclus’ arm and examined the wound. Patroclus was right, it wasn't that deep, and it didn't touch the bone, he merely had to pull the arrow to get it out. He moved to grab the arrow when Patroclus brusquely jerked his arm away of Achilles hands.
"Patroclus! What are you doing now?" To Achilles’ ears, suddenly his own voice sounded a lot like his mother’s.
"I'm sorry, I’m sorry, I wasn't ready"
Achilles searched for Patroclus eyes, and found them looking at the ground, glistening with unshed tears. Apparently, Achilles couldn’t stop messing up that day. “Listen, I know you hate pain, I really do and I’m sorry I have to cause you more pain, but we already have lost so much time screaming at each other, and you are still bleeding, just let me help you, please”
“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just-” The words Patroclus had wanted to say died before reaching his mouth, and his bottom lip started trembling instead “I’m sorry...”
Achilles held Patroclus’ arm again, but as soon as he touched the arrow, Patroclus tried to kick him in the stomach. Were Achilles the man that had tried to help Patroclus earlier, Patroclus would’ve surely landed the hit, however, being a demigod had granted Achilles better reflexes than any normal human had, and he stopped Patroclus’ foot with his hand.
“Sorry! Sorry! it was instinct, I didn’t mean it!” Patroclus’ voice was tainted with what seemed to be fear to Achilles’ ears.
“It’s ok” Achilles didn’t believe him a lot. Considering the way Achilles had screamed at him, plus Patroclus’ inability to withstand pain, he could understand why Patroclus would want to kick him, heck, he wanted to kick himself for acting like a jerk.
He placed Patroclus’ foot at his side. Achilles was holding Patroclus injured arm with one hand and his leg with the other. He started to gently stroke Patroclus’ leg to calm him down a little as he appeared to be about to cry.
Achilles’ mind wandered, providing him with the fact that Patroclus was very vulnerable in that moment, his position made his really short chiton move up, towards his thick thighs, and Achilles was suddenly very aware of the fact that, were he to lower himself just a little, he’d see Patroclus’-
Pull yourself together! Now it’s not the time to be thinking about that!
Achilles inhaled and exhaled, finally conjuring up a plan in his mind, he stopped touching Patroclus’ leg and putted both hands in the injured arm.
“Turn your head to the other side please”
“Why?”
“Please”
Patroclus obeyed “Please isn’t a good reason you know” he muttered without energy.
“Now, don’t turn back until I said so, ok?”
“Are you going to-“
Before Patroclus could finish, Achilles quickly pulled the arrow out, and Patroclus let out a scream of pain. It hurt Achilles to heard Patroclus like that.
“You can turn now”
Patroclus didn’t turn to face him afterwards.
Achilles stuck the offender arrow into the ground, and then poured water on the wound until the black blood became bright red.
He could hear Patroclus quietly crying.
Achilles let go of his companion’s arm and turned to grab the medicine and bandages off the floor, when he turned back, he saw Patroclus holding his wounded arm with the other, offering it to Achilles, however, he still wasn’t looking at him.
As carefully as he could, he started to put the paste that would ward off infection in the injury. From time-to-time his companion softly hissed between sobs.
Achilles wasn’t a healer, not like Patroclus was. He had been taught the same things as Patroclus by Chiron. They both knew what herbs to use for which sickness, how to set bones properly, how to perform surgery, he even knew how to deliver a baby safely (though; unlike Patroclus, he had just done it with goats and cows, never a human).
Nonetheless, Achilles was a warrior, his hands were made to maim, slash, hit, and kill. If he carried bandages, yarrow, and other dried plants on a little pouch with him into the battlefield, it was only to used them in a really important case, not in every foot soldier. Most people weren’t vital enough as to waste valuable resources on them when they’d die by an infection anyway. Patroclus was different, he helped everyone no matter what.
After he applied all the medicine to the lesion, Achilles started bandaging Patroclus’ arm, making sure it was tight enough as to not came loose, but not so tight as to not let the blood flow. He finished it with a knot, and then observed his work for a second, it was good, maybe not as good as an actual healers’ work, but it was enough for now. When he announced that it was done, Patroclus let his arm fall.
He looked at Patroclus, but Patroclus still wasn’t looking back, Achilles stood up.
More heavy silence filled the atmosphere, Achilles wanted to apologize for losing his temper earlier, for saying the awful thing he said, for not conveying his feelings properly, and for making him feel less important. Patroclus was his life; his world, the fact that he wasn’t sure about that only indicated Achilles’ faults as a lover.
Instead of doing that, he said: “We should go back to camp now”.
Patroclus didn’t answer or moved; Achilles understood the message, he wasn’t wanted in that moment, so he started to walk to the door.
“I’m so sorry” Patroclus’ voice reached Achilles’ ears before he could go away.
Achilles stopped and turned around to regard Patroclus “what?”
Patroclus moved to face him, wet tracks in his cheeks proved what Achilles already knew, he had been crying, he still was crying. “I’ve acted like a real asshole today and treated you so badly, please forgive me”
“Don’t said that, you aren’t an asshole”
“But it’s true!” Patroclus hiccupped “You’re right, I should’ve told you about my arm since the beginning! I shouldn’t have told Automedon to lie to you, and then I shouldn’t made you put up with me and my stupid tantrums! And even after all of that, you still helped me, even though I don’t deserve it” Patroclus cried more.
In seconds, Achilles crashed into Patroclus and hugged hum, probably harder than he planned to. He held Patroclus’ head against his armored chest in an attempted to feel the other’s warmth. “No, no, no, no, never say things like that, you deserve my help, you deserve my everything, and you are the one who’s right”
Achilles tried to run his hands through Patroclus’ long hair, but it was too tangled for that. “I’ve treated you as if you were incapable of taking care of yourself, I shouldn’t have but I’m so scared of something happening to you.” Achilles bit his lip “That’s not an excuse for my behavior though, I shouldn’t say what I said, if something ever happened to you, I’d never be at peace again, and I shouldn’t let my emotions affect you, I’m sorry if I made you think that I don’t trust you”. Achilles let out a shaky breath “I’m sorry, for everything”
“I know that you don’t mean what you said! And I poked at you when you were clearly getting angry instead of stopping. But I was feeling insecure about myself and look at what I did”
Patroclus made a gesture with his good arm, “I said things I don’t mean at all, I made fun of you because I wanted to act like a macho, and I made you cry!”
Patroclus paused to let a sob out “I’m so sorry, for being such an idiot when you only were worried about me, I’m the one who should trust you more”
Achilles paused for a moment, searching for the right words to say. “Your feelings matter to me Patroclus; If you are feeling insecure you should tell me, heck, tell me even when you are happy or sad or angry, I only want you to let me help you, but how am I to do it when you don’t say anything? Please talk to me, and again, I’m sorry that I made you feel that way, and sorry that I was way too much inside my own head to notice it” He kissed the top of Patroclus’ head where the cap was.
Patroclus hiccupped. “Your feelings matter too; I shouldn’t dismiss them like I did, I’m the one who should apologize”
Achilles huffed “Well, I ignored your feelings too, I’m not more important than you, besides, I said something horrible to you when I screamed, so I’m the one who should apologize”
“I said awful things too! And I’ve musted fuck up pretty badly for you to said something like that, so it’s my fault”
“Yes, you did say bad things, but you were in pain, I should’ve been more patient with you, I know that you tend to overreact when you are like that”
“Are you going to act as if I didn’t try to kick you in the stomach? That isn’t justifiable by any means”
“I’m wearing divine armor, if you kicked me in the stomach, it would’ve been more painful for you than for me”
“Then I would’ve deserved it”
“No, you wouldn’t, and even if you did, which you don’t, do you really think I would’ve liked that? I hate it when you are in pain” Something inside Achilles started finding the whole situation very funny all of a sudden.
“Even when I’m being an idiot?” Patroclus’ voice was still dripping with tears, though it had calmed down a lot.
“Especially when you are suffering, wanna know why?”
“Why?” Patroclus’ voice sounded very confused, it was so adorable to Achilles as it reminded him of when they both were kids, and Patroclus found out about something that was illogically to him.
“Because I love you with all my heart” Achilles said with a smile
Patroclus let out a little surprised sound at that “I love you too, I love you a lot”
Though it was a little uncomfortable as they both still were wearing their armors, they just held each other for a while in silence.
“I still feel bad, you know? Like I still should apologize” Achilles admitted.
Patroclus seemed to think about it for a couple of seconds “I’ll forgive you if you forgive me”
Achilles chuckled; it was the easiest solution to stop their endless cycle of apologizing that was getting a little bit ridiculous. “Then, I forgive you, my handsome prince Patroclus”
His lover looked up at him, his eyes were red and puffy, he had snot on his face, and his hair was wild and tangled. He was the most beautiful man Achilles had ever seen, if he didn’t love him already, he’d fall for him in that instant.
“I forgive you too, my brat Achilles”
Achilles now laughed, and felt a weight lifted off his shoulders, he released a breath he didn’t notice was holding, Patroclus laughed a little too.
“It’s good to know that we finally are good now, I hate fighting with you”
“I hate it too, let’s not fight, ever again” Patroclus mumbled half closing his eyes, clearly tired.
“I don’t know if that’s possible”
“Let’s just try it, ok?”
Achilles hummed in acknowledgement and started petting Patroclus’ hair. He started making plans on his mind. When they arrived at camp, he was going to take a hot bath with Patroclus, and then he’d untangle the hair of his beloved with his hands. Afterwards they both would sleep together like they always do.
“You know, I’m still a little mad about the thing with Automedon”
“I’m so sorry, I’ll never do it again” Patroclus said more out of habit than anything else.
“No, don’t start apologizing again! We just got out of that!” Achilles giggled “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the fact that my soldiers like you more than me!”
Now Patroclus burst with laughter.
“Hey! Don’t laugh, it’s true!” Achilles tried to sound serious but failed “Automedon and one Myrmidon disobeyed me just to cover up for you!”
Patroclus laughed more, and then said “Well, what did you expected from Automedon?”
Achilles put his best worried face “I don’t know, should I be worried about a possible insurrection?”
“Yeah, actually, didn’t you get the memo? We’re revolting against you Thursday night; Automedon will bring the meat and Menesthius your nephew the wine, it’s going to be a big thing, you’re invited of course, need you there to revolt.”
“Then I’ll make sure to attend” Achilles looked up at a tiny window in the house “It’s getting late, now we should actually go back to camp”
“Sure thing boss” Patroclus tried to stand, but almost fell, Achilles quickly grabbed him.
“Are you ok?”
Patroclus touched his head with his good arm “uh, yeah, just a little dizzy, guess I actually lost more blood than I thought, that or all the crying”
“Ok, don’t worry, just sit here for a moment” Achilles helped Patroclus to sit in the table, he stopped a moment to clean the tears’ track off his lover’s face with his thumbs, and then looked at his face.
Gods above, he looks so gorgeous.
Achilles remembered earlier, his companion so vulnerable and exposed, so open for anyone to take, a different kind of fire started inside his stomach. However, he had to tempered it off, for now. Then he went around the house to collect both their things from the ground. After he finished, he gave his helmet back to Patroclus, who putted it on, and he himself let his helmet fall on his face once again.
“I’m going to carry you, if that’s okay with you?”
Instead of answering, Patroclus simply extended his good arm towards Achilles and made grabby hands. Achilles took it as a yes.
Achilles held him like one would a recently wed maiden. Instead of remarking on it, Patroclus just sighed and let his head rest on his shoulder.
Achilles look at his beloved briefly, feeling the familiar ache of love bloom in his chest. Then he started walking out of the little house, towards their camp, towards home.
Epilogue
“Why did you take your sandals off?”
“Eh? What are you talking about?”
“Back there, in the house, when you had an arrow in your arm, you took off your sandals, why?
“Uuuh, I just wanted to be more comfortable?”
“... Ok, I guess it makes sense…”
“…”
“So, talking about clothes, don’t you think your chiton is a little bit way too short?”
“No, I don’t think so”
“Ok”
“But why are you saying that anyway? I thought you liked it when I show off my legs”
“I like it, it just… never mind”
“What? C’mon, you can tell me”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course”
“Well, maybe be more careful with the way you sit when you are using a chiton that short? Or at least wear underwear, because I admit it can be a good distraction for the enemy, but it also distracts some allies, me included. Me specifically”
“…”
“Don’t get me wrong, I like the view, your body is very beautiful after all, but I don’t want to be thinking about that in the middle of the battle”
“…”
“Why don’t you wear underwear though? Does the air feels nice? Or do you- “
“WELL, I forgot I promised Phoenix that today I’d help him with, old man stuff! Gotta go right now if I don’t want to be late! see you later love!”