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‘Come on! Just a little more!” Eurylochus wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and thrust the wineskin back at Perimedes, who caught it with a grin. “If I have more then you are responsible for cleaning up whatever happens” He twisted his neck around looking for Alkimos before quickly realising that was a bad idea and grabbing onto the nearest object (which just so happened to be Elpenor) for support until the world stopped spinning. He slowly turned his head to find the crewmate responsible for his current state. “Ok. Ok, talk me through this ridiculous game of yours again?” Alkimos grinned. “Not much to it really, we get you drunk and get you to answer dumb questions, used to play it with my brothers all the time back home.” He paused for a second before his grin widened “Although, I agree with Perimedes, you're nowhere near drunk enough yet” Eurylochus muttered irritatedly but nevertheless reached out and grabbed the wineskin back. After taking a long swig, he chucked the wineskin down in the middle of the rough circle where the men had sat down. “Right, let’s get this over with, ask away.”
“Ok, what are you most looking forward to about getting home?” Asked Perimedes. Eurylochus snorted “Easy. Being able to sleep. Elpenor snores way too loud, and Lycaon talks in his sleep constantly. It's quieter during the day!” Elpenor and Lycaon spluttered indignantly much to the roaring laughter and amusement of the other men. Eurylochus smiled and took another sip of the wine. Maybe he could get into this after all. Antiphus leaned forward with the next question. “Ok, who’d win in a fight, Odysseus or a goose?”
“Goose” replied Eurylochus “They’ve got those…beaks. And they’re sharp. And they’ve got teeth in the beaks. And they’re unpredictable and have no morals”
“Yeah, but Odysseus is a trained fighter. He’s literally like, Athena’s champion.”
“He wasn’t trained to fight geese.” Antiphus seemed to consider the response for a few seconds before adding “Ok, well what if Odysseus had a weapon?” Eurylochus frowned. “Then that’s not a fair fight. The goose deserves a weapon too.”
“What weapon would you give the goose then?” Asked Alkimos from across the circle. Eurylochus thought for a few seconds before straightforwardly replying “Sword.”
“A sword?”
“Sword.”
“How would a goose even use a sword?” Eurylochus shrugged. Alkimos seemed to accept this as an answer. “Ok, who would be a better dancer, Scylla or a siren?” Asked Elpenor. Eurylochus let out a laugh “A siren obviously. Scylla’s got all those, those, tentacle-head-things that would get in the way. Plus sirens are already music-y with their singing and everything. They’d be more way coordinated.” Elpenor considered this answer for a moment. “Yeah, no that makes sense.” The crew muttered in agreement before Antiochus started to ask the next question. “Ok, so…”
“How long do you think it will be before we reach Ithaca?” Odysseus frowned, turning away from Polites and leaning on the bow of the boat to look back out to the sea. “I don’t know, but I do know that we need to find land soon. We’re running dangerously low on supplies” Polites sighed before turning his head from the sea to Odysseus. “I’m sure we’ll be fine,” He said, offering up a small smile to try and lighten the mood. “As long as we keep our spirits up we’ll find land eventually. Who knows, maybe we’ll find an island full of people willing to share some food.” Odysseus halfheartedly returned the smile. “Maybe my friend, maybe.” He stood up, turning away from the front of the boat, “I need to stretch my legs, care for a walk about the ship?" Polites smiled “Sounds good!” As they neared the deck Polites heard a clamour of laughter and shouting. He turned to Odysseus who shared his confused expression. The noise grew louder as the rest of the crew came into view of the pair. ‘“Ok, ok. Ok. How many geese do you think you could take in a fight?”
“Depends. Can they work together and do I have a weapon?” Polites‘ confusion only grew, hearing Eurylochus slurring his way through… an answer to how many geese he could fight? “What’s going on here?” Asked Odysseus, the pair now standing in front of the circle of men. “Captain! We’re just playing a game Alkimos told us about to pass th-“
“Polites!” Eurylochus shouted excitedly, having looked up from where he had been staring wide-eyed at the deck. Polites couldn’t help but smile fondly, seeing the happiness on his partner’s face. “Hello Eurylochus”
“Captain, why don’t you two join us?” Asked Elpenor. “Why not?” Replied Odysseus with a smile. He sat down next to Elpenor, whilst Polites walked around the circle to sit next to Eurylochus. After a moment Odysseus asked “So, what exactly is this game? I take it involves rather a lot of wine” he said, nodding to Eurylochus. “Not much to it really, we got Eurylochus drunk, and now we’re asking him dumb questions.” Replied Elpenor, “It was Alkimos’ idea”
“That doesn’t surprise me” Odysseus replied dryly. The men chuckled before moving on with the game. “Ok, Eurylochus,” asked Lycaon, “If you could be any type of animal, what animal would you be?” Eurylochus stared up at the sky, pondering the question. “A fish. They’ve got the whole ocean to explore, and they don’t get affected by war and famine and… and stuff.” Eurylochus pulled a face “Plus they don’t have to listen to Odysseus talk about Penelope all the time.” Odysseus threw his hands up in outrage, much to the roaring laughter of the rest of the crew. “I don’t talk about her that much” chuckled Odysseus. Polites laughed “Ody, I’ve known you since we were 10, and I still know more about Penelope than I do about you.”
“Point taken.” Alkimos sat up, grinning ear to ear. “Ok, ok, ok, what’s your honest, opinion of Polites?” All eyes turned to the pair. Eurylochus turned to look at Polites, a wide smile slowly spreading over his face. “Polites…is amazing. He’s one of the kindest, nicest people I’ve ever met.” Polites’ face reddened slightly but he couldn’t help but smile at the praise.“He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, I want to spend forever being around him- I never feel as happy as I do talking to him, or being around him or just looking at him.” Eurylochus opened his mouth to continue, still grinning madly when Polites interrupted him “You’ve answered the question don’t worry, you don’t need to continue” He said awkwardly, embarrassed by the high praise and nervous that Eurylochus would reveal a secret they’d worked hard to keep. Eurylochus didn’t pay attention. “And he’s the most handsome man I’ve ever set eyes on! I could spend days just looking at his eyes alone, they’re like pools of… of…” In his drunken state, Eurylochus struggled to find a comparison that he felt did Polites justice before finally settling on: “They’re really nice eyes.” Polites flushed a bright red. “Ok, Eurylochus, that’s… that’s probably enough” he could see confused glances flicking between the men, and a few who’d pieced together the exact nature of Polites and Eurylochus’ relationship looking amused and trying not to laugh. “And he’s just so funny, and kind, and clever, and brilliant, and beautiful, and brilliant, and his laugh is the most amazing sound, and, and-“
“Eurylochus, please stop”
“And he just lights up the ship and-“
“Eurylochus…”
“And the way he fights-he looks so… graceful and, elegant”
“Eurylochus!”
Eurylochus looked at Polites, his face completely melting into a lovestruck grin. “And I love you,” he said, leaning onto Polites’ side. Polites glanced around the circle nervously before sighing and dropping his shoulders. “I love you too Eury.” He replied softly. The rest of the circle was silent, trying to process what had been revealed. After a few momentsAntiphus blinked a few times before asking “Wait, so does this mean…? Are you two…?” He trailed off unsure of what to say. “Yes, Eurylochus and I are together,” Polites answered, weaving his hand into Eurylochus’ and squeezing it gently. There was more silence before Perimedes shouted in triumph and pointed at Elpenor. “I told you! I was absolutely right!” Elpenor raised his eyebrows waiting for Perimedes to explain. “Ok, remember like, a couple weeks ago when I pointed to them and said ‘Hey, don’t you think Polites and Eurylochus are like weirdly close? There’s gotta be something else there’ And you thought I was crazy! Well ha!” He grinned smugly as Elpenor chuckled “Ok, yeah. You got me there”
“We honestly should have clocked it sooner huh- you two are basically inseparable.” Laughed Lycaon, the rest of the men beginning to relax as the tension eased slightly. “How on earth did you guys manage to keep it secret this long? Neither of you are good at being subtle” added Antiochus. Polites responded with an offended noise, much to the amusement of the group. “Neither of you are allowed to complain about me talking about Penelope after this so you know” chimed in Odysseus after a few moments. Polites snorted “No way! That was nothing compared to the length at which you’ve talked about Penelope. You go on, and on” he replied jokingly. Eurylochus jolted upright, from where he’d been seemingly falling asleep on Polites’ shoulder. “I can go on if you want! His hair is-“
“Not necessary” Polites interrupted, snaking an arm around Eurylochus’ waist and pulling him back down to leaning on his side again. He pressed a kiss onto Eurylochus’ cheek “Thank you though.” Perimedes whistled teasingly prompting loud laughter from the rest of the crew, who at this point were all slightly drunk. Polites rolled his eyes. “You’re all children” he smiled. As the evening wore on, and after more teasing and laughter the crew started to slowly disperse until the only members left on the deck were Eurylochus, who’d passed out on Polites’ shoulder, and Polites and Odysseus, who were slowly sipping the last of the wine and idly talking. Odysseus paused and looked up at the sky before asking “How long have you two, y’know? Polites took a sip from the wineskin and passed it back to Odysseus. “A while at least. A year or two? Started when we were still in Troy” Odysseus drank from the wineskin and passed it back “What happened?” Polites looked at him strangely. Odysseus shrugged “We’ve all been stuck together for 10 years, we ran out of new conversations to have in year 5. This is the most interesting thing that’s happened since we left Ithaca” Polites considered this for a moment “That’s true.” He took a sip of wine “I mean, I loved him for longer than I can remember, but I didn’t want to say anything. Then we were in battle and, this trojan had forced me onto the ground and I was sure he was going to kill me there and then. But then Eurylochus swoops in, stabs him, and helps me up. And he gave me this smile that just… made me realise that, if I could be stabbed by some trojan any day, I didn’t want that to happen before I said how I felt. So the day after I found him alone and we talked.” Polites smiled softly “Turns out he felt the same way” Odysseus smiled “I’m happy for the two of you. You both deserve some joy in this whole ordeal.” They sat in silence staring at the night sky and passing the wine. After a while Odysseus stood up “I’m going to turn in for the night. But I’llsee you both in the morning”
“Night then” Polites replied. As Odysseus walked away, he nudged Eurylochus gently “Hey, wake up” Eurylochus mumbled incoherently into his shoulder. Polites laughed “I get that, but I don’t think we should sleep out here all night.” He nudged Eurylochus again to no response. After a long pause, Eurylochus mumbled “I’m glad this happened.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Eurylochus picked his head up off of Polites’ shoulder. “I want to be able to tell people how much I love you and how amazing you are. I don’t want to hide it”
“Well don’t do it too much, if this crew gets another Odysseus, the crew will probably mutiny” smirked Polites. Eurylochus made a vague noise of agreement before dropping his head back onto Polites’ shoulder. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Replied Polites. They sat like that for a little while before Polites spoke up. “We do probably still need to move though”
“… fine.”