Chapter Text
Despite the ruthless massacre of the Trojan war, the journey back to Ithaca had been smooth sailing; stopping on islands from time to time to gather resources before going back to sea.
“Captain, look!” Eurylochus yelled from the deck, pointing at the horizon past the deep, blue abis.
Turning quickly, Odysseus found himself staring back at his kingdom in the far distance, a smile creeping onto the corner of his mouth as he made his way towards where Eurylochus stood. There it was- the island he’d been searching for.
Without a second thought, Odysseus called out to his crew.
“Push forward!” He ordered firmly, although there was no way of denying the subtle enthusiasm within his voice.
Slowly, the ships began to steer towards Ithaca, the island becoming clearer in view over time.
“Captain!” A voice said softly as a man stood next to Odysseus.
“Polites!” Odysseus exclaimed cheerfully, his grin widening on sight of his childhood best friend.
“Is that it? Are we really home?” Polites questioned energetically, despite already knowing the answer.
Odysseus nodded gently, just barely taking his eyes off of the Island to take a look at the two men besides him. Polites, ever the bubbly one, almost beamed with excitement, quickly wrapping his arms around Odysseus and pulling the man into an overly tight hug. The captain chuckled lightly, placing an arm around Polites.
Out of nowhere, Eurylochus cleared his throat loudly to grab Odysseus’s attention.
“Sir, we should probably start docking soon,” He stated calmly, motioning towards a few crew members who were waiting for orders.
“Ah, right,” Odysseus replied, gently pushing Polites off of him with a smile before leaving with his second in command.
Polites waved the two off before turning his attention back to the island. He sighed mildly to himself. He would glance back at Odysseus every so often, watching the way the sunlight caught in the man's curly hair; it always made his face heat up. He felt awfully tender whenever his friend made eye contact with him- or just being around him in general almost made Polites freeze up.
He didn’t understand why.
Well at least, that's what Polites wanted to believe.
Falling in love was never really a big thing Polites cared for. Of course he’d shown his affection to others, but he never felt like this when doing so, (Apart from when he was around Odysseus). Surely it had to be from the isolation of being on the ship that had driven him to such..’absurdity’ as some may say.
Polites sighed to himself again, lost in his own thoughts as he stared off into the endless void of the ocean. Until..
“Polites!” Odysseus yelled, snapping his friend back to reality. “Ive been calling your name for the past minute,” He said playfully.
Polites looked over, quickly fixing his posture and regaining any sense that he had to smile shyly at his captain.
“Oh, you have? Sorry..” He muttered awkwardly.
Odysseus let out a kind laugh.
“It’s fine, I was just going to tell you to get off the ship since we’re here,” He explained. “Unless you want to stay here that badly,” He joked, patting Polites on the shoulder.
Polites chuckled with the man but looked around for a second after Odysseus spoke, he’d been so zoned out that he hadn’t even noticed they docked?
“No, let’s go!” He remarked loudly, his composure clearly amiable as he grabbed Odysseus’s hand in his and dragged him along with him.
As the crew made their way off of the ships, people on the island cheered, already celebrating the War victory that they had accomplished. The atmosphere was fuzzy with excitement and relief, people were congratulating their King and his crew as they boarded back on land.
Odysseus smiled, glancing behind him at his crew and besides him at both Eurylochus and Polites. Eurylochus looked proud whilst Polites looked merrily at the people in the crowd.
He kept his eased expression on his face.
He was glad to be back.